Laurent?

[atthebottomofthehill]

Can't use Laurence as it clashes with surname but love the name. Is Laurent an option?

Best tell Laurence Fox

One beginning with the SH sound! Tongue twister

How is Laurence a girl's name? Was that meant to be a joke?

One beginning with the SH sound! Tongue twister

Ah, OK!

Laurie or Lance .
Laurent is awful.

I suppose Lorenzo could fit the bill pronunciation-wise, but might sound a bit of an odd choice if you have no family Spanish or Italian heritage!

If pronounce it
Lau (law?) like the sound at the beginning of Laura.
On but slightly longer than on more 'ohn'

Kind of like croissant!!

Not explaining myself well here! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

But I like it!

It's a girl's name in France but a boy's name in England 🙂

My French college is a Laurent and gets called Laurence 90% of the time.by English people. So if Laurence doesn't work, then he is likely to be called it anyway.

It's a girl's name in France but a boy's name in England

Aaaaah, I see - thanks!

It's not as well known or as nice as Laurence.

How about ..
Clement
Grant
Scott
Walter
Vincent
Roland
Clive
Clifford
Richard

Go for Laurent if you like it. Its my brother's name. I also have a Xavier relative. & I dont have an English name either. Some of these thread comnents are ridiculous, whats with making it sound as if English people are too stupid to pronounce an unfamiliar name? & Are you really that afraid of difference? I find that mostly people do try at least to pronounce names correctly. If anyone mispronounces my name I tend to correct them nicely. But mostly people will just say 'oh, how do you pronounce your name?' & I'm absolutely fine with that.

With Laurent the 1st part I pronounce as 'Lohr' (soft R) then for the rest of name, sound comes from the back of my nose somewhere - only way I can describe it. But in shock news - just like UK, not everyone in France has same accent. Then there's the French diaspora. & I found Canadian French an eye-opener to say the least. So you arent exactly going to get 1 universal accent and pronunciation anyway.

@MiladyBlue , I don't think it's a girl's name, just saying that someone kept posting that it was.

Laurence Shaw or something is fine. He'll probably be Laurie anyway.
Laurent Shaw seems a bit naff.

@DeeCeeCherry , OP asked for opinions. It's a lot more relevant to the OP, assuming she's in the UK, how it's said here than that it might be pronounced in a variety of ways in France or Canada.

whats with making it sound as if English people are too stupid to pronounce an unfamiliar name?

A huge amount of them are, though - whether genuinely unable or too arrogant to see why it matters in the first place.

So many people with foreign (or Welsh/Scottish/Irish) names will tell you that people they know very well and work with/see often simply don't bother, or will find a more familiar 'equivalent' and arbitrarily decide that will be fine instead.

Even when learning a foreign language - and not just one word - so many native English speakers will merrily ignore the basics of pronunciation and treat it like a slight variation of English. For example, take the basic word 'ich' in German: only a small proportion of native English speakers will even attempt to say it properly, with the majority going for 'eek' or 'eesh' and reckoning that 'that will do'. I'm talking about those actually learning/studying the language - not just those with a phrasebook on holiday at Oktoberfest.

I like it. I know two…but both are French.

It's not about being stupid - most English people can't pronounce the French "r" correctly for example, and will say the vowel sounds differently to a French person even if they try their best, so of course the name will sound different. Whether or not this matters or bothers you of course is a different matter 🙂

It's not about being stupid - most English people can't pronounce the French "r" correctly for example, and will say the vowel sounds differently to a French person even if they try their best, so of course the name will sound different. Whether or not this matters or bothers you of course is a different matter

No, sorry, I wasn't very clear in that and unfairly merged those who are unable to make sounds with those 'delightful' people who just decide that somebody else's actual name isn't important at all.

I was calling the latter people stupid, not the former; although I would still also reserve the description for people who genuinely seem unable to grasp that other languages are not just dialects of English and appear astonished to find that there are significant differences - the sort of folk who think that Welsh people only speak it as a 'hobby' or to be awkward, or that Spanish people speaking Spanish in Spain are somehow doing it deliberately to annoy them.

Some people have no aptitude for sounds not in their mother tongue, or won't hear the difference between Lorr-ON and 'Laurent'.
Not all of us studied French at school, and even if we did, we'd have been taught how to say words the way the teacher said them.

I think a lot of people thing that Gaelic, Gaeilge and Welsh are dialects of English, or that their pronunciation is interchangeable.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Gaelic/Gaeilge/Welsh pronunciation/spellings posts are made by non-speakers who speak a regional scottish/irish/welsh dialect, or by people who are scottish/irish/welsh by blood or birthplace only.

I worked with a very nice Laurent for a few years and no one had an issue with his name. It was our colleague Marine that they all struggled to pronounce.

I like it. Very elegant written, and I don't think there is an awful difference between the french and an anglicised pronunciation. Kinda like Louis/ Lewis.

But Louis is Lou-ee, and Lewis is Lew-is, so quite different

Except when you're talking about the city of St Louis in the US...

Except when you're talking about the city of St Louis in the US...

And Louis (LEW-iss) Armstrong.

I don't get this whole people are stupid so won't pronounce it right thing? Maybe in GP surgeries etc wher they don't know him but otherwise it goes like this. Kid turns up at nursery, toddler group, reception of wherever with his parents. Parents introduce kids to staff and say this is Laurent, pronouned properly. Staff clarify pronounciatian a couple of times if it's tricky (Laurent isn't). Staff call kid Laurant as do all his peers from day 1 and little kids think nothing of it.

My kids go to school with lots of French (and other nationalities) kids and no ones name gets mispronounced. Antoine is called Antoine, not An-tonee. Usoma is called Usoma not Us-omma. Etc etc. Kids really aren't that thick and if you meet the odd adult that hasn't travelled much, so what, GP receptionists often mispronounce my boring British name, the world doesn't end.

I like Laurent, it's a really nice name. Also Loic. And Lorien. I would probably assume one or both parents was french though but, again, so what.

Huh, you mean Satchmo the trumpet player? I thought he was Lou-ee?