Am I pronouncing this name correctly?

[Maybree]

Our daughter is due on December 6th and we’ve decided to name her Alana. We will pronounce the name “Ah-lar-na”. I haven’t come across many people with this name so I just wanted to check.

For example, the name "Dara" is pronounced "Dah-rah" by Irish people, but in an English accent, this becomes "Daw-raw", which is fine and correct to the accent.

The al an na pronunciation should have double n.

The al ah na pronunciation should have one n.

I took the r to be the long A that almost makes an r sound in like an Essex accent, for example.

But every Alana I’ve ever known pronounced it as a short A

I would pronounce it the same as you OP.

I think I'd say AL-un-uh

Alanna would say Al-ANNa

My friend Alana is pronounced like Uh laaah nuh

It's not 'Ah' lana or 'Ay' lana, its 'Uh' larrrrr nuh

Lana
Layne
Alli

The ones I know

The one I know is a lady in her 40s and it's spelt Alanna. Sounds like alarna

If province as you say OP.

Should read ‘I’d pronounce’.

After personally sparking the banana debate, I'm now craving an oven-baked banana laced with rum and served with whipped cream, maybe with a few toasted pecans sprinkled on top. ☺️

Ok, so the “nar” in “ba-nar-na” is not a real “r” sound. But why is everyone writing “ba-nar-na” then and not just “ba-naa-na”? Or “ba-NA-na”?

@PartyStory

Ok, so the “nar” in “ba-nar-na” is not a real “r” sound. But why is everyone writing “ba-nar-na” then and not just “ba-naa-na”? Or “ba-NA-na”?

Because ‘ar’ is how we spell the ‘ah’ sound 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why don’t you just spell it ‘ah’ though? Then we wouldn’t have to have this same confusion every few days!

Ah-lah-na

Or the ‘aa’ sound. Or however you spell it. It’s to differentiate it from the hard ‘a’ sound.
To say ‘ba Na na’ would imply that the ‘a’ makes the same sound in all three syllables of banana in our accent, when it doesn’t.

Just call her Brigid. 😊

(Or we could just all learn to use the IPA...would save so much time!)

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

Why don’t you just spell it ‘ah’ though? Then we wouldn’t have to have this same confusion every few days!

It doesn’t confuse people who know the difference between a rhotic and a non rhotic accent!

True! But it stresses me out. Every time!! I should learn not to even open these threads.😁

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

(Or we could just all learn to use the IPA...would save so much time!)

Well yes, I agree with you there!

To say ‘ba Na na’ would imply that the ‘a’ makes the same sound in all three syllables of banana in our accent, when it doesn’t.

Fair enough, but as a big chunk of the UK pronounces “r” differently, it’s not very helpful to use it as a pronunciation guide if it only works in select accents. Particularly since “r” has a sound of it’s own and you’re not using it that way.

I went to school with an Alana - pronounced A larn A. The A said like the phonetic A

Fair enough, but as a big chunk of the UK pronounces “r” differently, it’s not very helpful to use it as a pronunciation guide if it only works in select accents. Particularly since “r” has a sound of it’s own and you’re not using it that way

I’d happily use IPA to describe it but I reckon that would confuse more people.