How would you pronounce this baby name?

[MondaysFunday]

If you saw the name Mariana written down with no context provided, how would you pronounce it? DH and I completely disagree on the pronunciation, and we both think we’re right. I reckon there’s also the possibility that we’re both wrong.

1. Mar-ee-on-ah
2. Mar-ee-ann-ah
3. Mary-on-ah
4. Mary-ann-ah

Is the father-bother merger what explains Kamala Harris's weird way of explaining how to pronounce her name where she says it's like 'COME - ala')? So funny to me because in my native (northern Scottish) accent those vowels sounds are so far apart (more like fither- buther).

Ma-ree-anna but would also wonder if it was said like Marina

Really?

So, like..donner and banner just sound the same to you?

Gone and can? Don and Dan?

This thread is dead confusing 🤣

I’m Irish and would differentiate between Marianna and Mariana.

So it’s the lengthening of a vowel rather than the adding of an ‘r’ (though in practical terms those things sound the same).

This is the bit that can confuse people with rhotic accents…because adding an r and lengthening a vowel very much do not sound the same in our accents. An r is pronounced as an r in every position in a word.

Writing Arna is the same as writing Arrna for people with my accent, they’re pronounced the same and not a bit like Ana.

Until I thought about how r functions in non-rhotic accents I was a bit at sea 😅
It confused me when I was new to MN but I understand it now.

They don’t rhyme in my Irish accent.
Spanner is Spannerr, there’s an r sound at the end that isn’t there in Anna.

It's just a convention. Anna would be written as AH-nuh, Mariana as Marry-AR-nuh.

Banana is buh-NAR-nuh. It doesn't mean that people are saying an R sound in Banana.

If you know how to say Anna and Banana, then you should be able to figure it out.
(UK pronunciations)

(I don't care how you say banana, I don't say buh-NAR-nuh because of my accent)

Anna definitely isn't said like Ah nah in my accent,it's hard A 😂

@LoafofSellotape, the AH-nuh pronunciation is a way of representing the sounds in Anna.
Anna is like Ann with an a on the end.

I say Ann like everyone else, but when one explains how to say Ann, the convention is AHN.

If I saw Anna explained as AH-nuh or AHnnuh, I know they mean A like the a in cat and uh like the ah in Sarah.

It's not ah like in 'Say aaah'

(FWIW I say Anna as Ann-ah but I don't have an English accent)

I try to use IPA where possible and here it is Anna (/ˈaːnə/ AH-nə)
What you think I am saying would be /ˈɑːnə/

@NamingNoNames as someone with a rhotic accent I read 'ah' the way you claim everyone reads 'ar', as an extended 'a' sound. And even recording sounds doesn't help because our brain rewires in childhood depending which accent and language it hears.

I'm not convinced about Ana being said differently from Anna in English, I've never heard anyone make a distinction. . For one thing the Americans pronounce Elsa and Anna with an extended vowel at the start of Anna if Frozen is anything to go by. But it's just accent variation, so e.g. my Italian SIL says my name a completely different way to my English friend or to me (Scottish), but we all can understand each other. I'm never going to want someone to imitate my accent for a name that is native in all our languages.

Anyway, surely the important distinction in this thread is between 'marry anna' and 'mary anna'. And it's definitely Marry.

Are you sure? I just asked Google and got AN not AH. I am not an expert so am happy to be educated if you are. If Anna (rhymes with Hannah) is AH, then how is Ana (Frozen character pronounced US way) written phonetically? As I say, I am definitely not an expert and willing to learn.

@FruAashild , I don't make the rules!

I have a mainly rhotic accent and when I first read -arna (years ago now) I'd have thought they meant ar like in Harry. They don't. They mean the a sound you get in car.

I specifically said British pronunciation so as to exclude how they might say Anna in Frozen.

Marianna is Marry Anna. Mariana to me is like Mariana Trench.
Mariana sounds like Marry, ana like the last bit in Banana.

This

I'm not convinced about Ana being said differently from Anna in English, I've never heard anyone make a distinction

I think Ana is certainly said differently to Anna ‘in English’ if it is part of a longer name. For example I’d say the -ana in Juliana differently to how I’d say Anna…the vowel sound is longer. Same with Lana, Indiana etc.

I agree that ‘ah’ often reads as that longer sound though. At least that’s what I think pp meant when she wrote Mar-ee-ah-na?
Though it’s not the same in names like Sarah so 🤷‍♀️

I’m not sure there is an agreed convention for representing these sounds as @NamingNoNames says. That’s why threads like this can be confusing.

Of course Anna and Ana are pronounced very differently!

@FruAashild
The Mary- pronunciation is American
The Marry- pronunciation is British

Not necessarily. It depends where the stress falls and on the origin of the word.

Diana is Di rhymes with high followed by Anna
Juliana is Joolie-AR-na.

The Turkish Ana I know says Anna.

Or Julie ah na 😂

@Katelinda , there is. There's the convention used by dictionaries - usually IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet - Wikipedia

Whatever. This is tedious.

Spanish Ana is Anna. @Bellybellas .

I say Julie- ah-na
And Die-ah-na

This

I don't even know what Mar-ee-Ah-Na sounds like - which syllable would be stressed.
I'd read Mar as mar (as in spoil)
ee as in free
Ah like the a in cat
na like the na in nanny.

They'd be the same to me.
As a PP mentioned Julianna, I'd say the "anna" part of it the same as the name Anna.