It was my understanding that [name]Dahlia[/name] the flower was pronounced ‘Dah-lee-yah’ after the botanist [name]Anders[/name] Dahl … and the same as [name]Roald[/name] Dahl the author.
and that [name]Dalia[/name] was pronounced closer to [name]Day[/name]-lee-ah.
Several baby name books I own suggest that both names are pronounced the same, and that the pronunciation is [name]Day[/name]-lee-ah.
[name]Even[/name] Nameberry suggests that the British pronciation is [name]Day[/name]-lee-ah. As a New Zealander (Kiwi’s tend toward British pronunciation) I grew up thinking the flower’s in my mother’s garden where Dah-lee-ahs.
When you read the name [name]Dahlia[/name] how would you pronounce it? (and, where are you from? Maybe that information will suggest if it’s a cultural bias)
I’m a [name]Brit[/name] and I’ve always said/heard DAH-lee-ah (like [name]Roald[/name] Dahl, as you said). I’ve heard [name]Day[/name]-lee-a said by an American though.
Perhaps it’s the posh upper-crust Brits that say [name]DAY[/name]-lee-a (i.e. the same people that prn [name]Ralph[/name] RAYF and [name]Sophia[/name] so-FYE-a)
I went to high school with a girl named [name]Dahlia[/name]. It’s [name]Doll[/name]-ee-ah.
This page for the dictionary definition of dahlia has two entries, each with a sound file
The first one says Dall-ya, that’s Dall as in dilly-dally, not dale daily or dawl
The second one says [name]Doll[/name]-ee-ah, like I said it.
I don’t know about [name]Dalia[/name]. I think that might be open to personal preference as well. If it is a form of [name]Dahlia[/name], I would take these names to be more like the -ine names, [name]Emmeline[/name] pronounced Emmeleen or [name]Emme[/name]-line, you choose! Might even be Da-[name]LEE[/name]-ah if you wanted. One might be more British? Ask our UK friends.
I clicked on the dictionary link that [name]Karen[/name] posted and I agree with the “[name]Dal[/name]-yuh” pronounciation. I am not very good at writing how things are pronounced, but nothing I had seen looked quite like how I say it. [name]Doll[/name]-ya to me seem the furthest from what
I was expecting though. Dah-lee-ya is closer, but I always thought it was two syllables. I am from the New [name]England[/name] part of [name]America[/name], perhaps that explains my perspective.
I [name]LOVE[/name] the name [name]Dahlia[/name]! I’m in the U.S., and I pronounce both spellings Dah-lee-uh, and have always heard both names pronounced this way.
Maybe I am the only one, but I always thought [name]Dahlia[/name] was pronounced: doll-yuh
Wasn’t there a moved, ‘The [name]Black[/name] [name]Dahlia[/name]’ that was pronounced this way?
I’ve never met anyone with the name [name]Dalia[/name], but reading it, I would think [name]Dale[/name]-ee-a or [name]Dale[/name]-yuh
I’m from [name]California[/name] and I always heard [name]Dahlia[/name] pronounced DAHL-ee-ya. A movie came out a couple of years ago with [name]Josh[/name] Hartnet and [name]Scarlett[/name] Johansson called “The [name]Black[/name] [name]Dahlia[/name]”. [name]Dahlia[/name] was pronounced DAHL-ee-ya.
