Frances? Does it matter if we pronounce it differently?

[hopeful4us]

Currently expecting baby #2 and struggling to find a girls name we both agree on.

Frances is top of our list but my husband is northern and pronounces it clipped: 'Fran-sis'. I'm from the south and pronounce it 'Frarn-ses'. I'm happy to adjust my pronunciation but my family will also likely say it the southern way and my husband is concerned our baby will dislike it/get confused.

Anyone with a similar name/various regional pronunciations able to comment on whether they find it irritating?

How about people stop inserting letters that aren't there when speaking?

Frances | Pronunciation in English
Francis | Pronunciation in English

My grandmother was Frances and her husband called her Francey 🥰 I’m biased but I think it’s lovely

I wouldn’t pronounce the vowel any differently at the end for males and females (London/SE accent).

I might differentiate with the final “s” - for Francis I would always say it sss, for Frances it could be sss or zzz.

Ha. Having taught phonics to kids in the south and in the north, I can confirm northern is by far the most logical!

@Bjorkdidit , the letters 'are there' if you have a non-rhotic accent,
use your imagination. Ah indicates A said like in cat not the 'Ah!' sound.

You can use IPA e.g. bat [bat] and bath [bɑːθ] but when I do I get compaints by MNers who aren't familiar with IPA.

Frances and Francis are pronounced the same way.

@hopeful4us , I don't like names ending in -ana because of the -anna/-arna issue.

But it's not the same vowel so not the same pronunciation. I work with a Frances and despair at the number of people who spell her name incorrectly in emails and pronounce her name Francis instead of Frances

But quite a few accents don't differentiate the "es" and the "is" sound, especially as an unstressed syllable at the end of a word. My natural accent (Southern US) generally does not. I say "natural" because I do make an attempt at a different vowel sound, but I'm sure I would often pronounce them the same (the "is" sound).

@Bjorkdidit , How do you say Innes? The town Lewes is pronounced 'Lewis'.
Lewes is near Brighton, which is pronounced the same as brighten,

Won't she likely be known as Fran day to day?

I'm from the South East and pronounce both Francis and Frances the same - Frahn-siss.

The two girls I know called Frances are known as Frances and Frankie.

The Frans I know are in their 50s/60s.

I’m a Southerner and have a family member with this lovely name. Nobody puts an additional R in it. It isn’t Frarn ses. It’s Frahn- siss

Frann - siss sounds unpleasant to my ear, I wouldn’t call my baby that if that’s how it was going to be pronounced.

I am Brighton born and bred. It isn’t the same pronunciation as Brighten. There’s no eh sound. It’s Bright- uhn.

Lewes is Loo- iss

My name is Frances (I've name changed, obv!)

I'm not really sure what he means. People with different accents pronounce things differently! I'm from the south and lived in Leeds for a year - didn't bother me. I think they would just get used to it

What I will say is that I hate my name and I've never met another Frances who likes it. Kids at school used to say "Are you from France? Why don't you go back to France?". I did go to rough schools though so it stood out as a 'posh' name, even though I wasn't.

I go by Fran and 9/10 older people call me Fraaarn, even though I've never heard of someone actually being called that

Overall - would not recommend!

Ouch! I'm only 47 😥

@WhereverIlaymycatthatsmyhome , both are brightn.
Brigh·ton [ˈbrʌɪtn], brighten [ˈbrʌɪtn]

Lewes is Loo- iss and so is Lewis.

They sound quite different in my (Brighton) accent. You would have no doubt which was which if you heard me speak.

Brighten is bry- ten
Brighton is bry tuhn

I like Frances much better than Francesca - there was a spate of people where I live (Derbyshire) calling their kids this in the 1990s and all I can hear is it shouted at the top of your voice in an angry manner: “Fran-chesk-arr, cum ee-yarr!!!”

Gosh that’s really rather rude. What’s wrong with you?

I have a Grace. Her Northern family call her Graace, her Southern, Grace. Never been a problem.

That's only 3 years off to be fair 😂 And I'm in my 50s so it was just an observation, not a criticism.

I actually prefer Fran, was just pointing out it's not necessarily the default nickname for youngsters 🙂

Will it be Barth or Ba’ath ?
I am sure children will adjust to parents who pronounce things slightly differently.

I have a Francis (boy) and my husband is southern and I’m northern. Never been an issue for us x