Pronunciation of Eleanor

[SherbertLemons]

Just that really.

How does everyone pronounce this name and what do you think of it?

El-en-uh

Maybe in some parts of the UK, but anywhere I've lived (South East, SW, Scotland, NI) it's SHAR-lut, with the emphasis on the first syllable and lut to rhyme with hut. Not Shar-Lot, with equal emphasis and the lot like a parking lot.

I say shar-lut . This sounds like ‘shar lut’ to me m.youtube.com/watch?v=VhJy3_278I4

And to me the Lut rhymes with put, but not hut (or but!)

Yes, ‘lut’ to rhyme with put or foot.

I have a friend that calls the Charlotte in our group ‘shar-LOT’ and it drives her potty.

I would assume someone was taking the mick if someone pronounced Charlotte 'shar-LOTT' with the emphasis on the second syllable (while speaking English anyway, I don't know if it's different in other languages).

I've never heard that... even the Royals don't say it like that, so I can't blame being common. 😅

@Bimblybomeyelash

And to me the Lut rhymes with put, but not hut (or but!)

Now I'm intrigued! How are those sounds different for you? They're all the same in my accent (my soothing flat Lancashire vowels... haha).

I know an Eleanor who pronounces it El-nerr.

But in general, I’m with the Eleanor Rigby pronunciation.

@scarpa ha my husband is mancunian and physically can't say 'but' and 'book' the way I do. He ends up saying 'bat' and 'buhk' when he tries to do my southern accent. So hard to describe!

For me I say 'put' with the same U my husband (and maybe you?) use for 'but'. But in my accent, 'but' is like 'b-uht'. Not quite an 'ah' sound, but not a long deep 'oo/uh' sound.

Hut is the same U as in but.

Is it so shocking in a nation with hundreds of different accents that we all pronounce names a bit differently?

[quote WakeUpLockie]@scarpa ha my husband is mancunian and physically can't say 'but' and 'book' the way I do. He ends up saying 'bat' and 'buhk' when he tries to do my southern accent. So hard to describe!

For me I say 'put' with the same U my husband (and maybe you?) use for 'but'. But in my accent, 'but' is like 'b-uht'. Not quite an 'ah' sound, but not a long deep 'oo/uh' sound.

Hut is the same U as in but.[/quote]
Hahaha yes I'm with him on that I think - I can hear it in my head though, but I'm so intrigued as to what makes particular words (hut) have that slightly more fronted 'u' sound and not others (like put). Language is a funny thing!

The one that always foxes me is 'ruhm' for 'room'. I can't get on board with that (she says from her very questionable high horse, pronouncing book, look, put, up, hut, but, cook all precisely the same hahaha).

@NothingSafe

I’m always fascinated, too. I notice with my husband that he says some words the opposite way round to me.

So I say push with a short vowel, he says poosh.
I say soup as soop, he says sip.

It’s funny to hear which pronunciation our small daughter chooses, too. (She’s very much a poosh and pool kind of girl.)

Elle a nore.
Scottish, btw.
Never heard it pronounced without the R.

One Eleanor I know changed her name to Elle as she moved to England and hated the way some people mangled her name and dropped the R.

@TrashyPanda

Elle a nore. Scottish, btw. Never heard it pronounced without the R.

One Eleanor I know changed her name to Elle as she moved to England and hated the way some people mangled her name and dropped the R.

Yes, it's a real problem for Irish and Scottish names with an 'r' -- they sound very different in non-rhotic accents. Orla is one that sounds far less pleasant to me in a non-rhotic accent (OH-luh) , but the real issue is that it sometimes doesn't code to the bearer of the name as theirs at all. I know an Orla who moved to England and people would be addressing her as 'Oh-luh', and she'd be wondering who they were talking to, because it sounded like an entirely different name.

@Verfremdungseffekt, I think it's a shame that the names become mainstream with the anglicised pronunciation

Orla is pretty, Awla isn't Siobhan is pretty, Shivaun isn't

Ellen-er

[quote KirstenBlest]@Verfremdungseffekt, I think it's a shame that the names become mainstream with the anglicised pronunciation

Orla is pretty, Awla isn't Siobhan is pretty, Shivaun isn't[/quote]
Agree re Orla, but what's the difference between Siobhan and Shivaun pronunciation wise?
Shivaun doesn't seem bad for a phonetic rendering in English...does it?

The difference is that the non-irish version seems to have a really long aun sound. Sort of one is Shivawn and the other is Shiv-AWWN

Same as Eleanor and Ela-NORE, I suppose

Either - it's an accent thing. But definitely don't feel like you have to alter the spelling if you want to pronounce it Ell-en-ore - that's a common pronunciation of the classic spelling, not all names are spelled phonetically!

@KirstenBlest
Ah right, I see, thank you.

I feel the same about names from other languages - Amelie, Elodie and Genevieve for example. Lovely in their native tongue but plain in a UK accent

Eleanor = El en or

As it's written!

Everyone is pronouncing Eleanor as it's written though Blubells. It's just that the letter r, in that position in a word, is pronounced in some accents and not in others. So the sound of the name depends on the accent of the speaker.

We have one. She is ella-NOR.