Pronunciation of Clara??

General Name Discussion
1

[name]How[/name] do you pronounce [name]Clara[/name]: Clah-rah or [name]Clair[/name]-ah?

2

Clah-rah for me. I’m a northern, [name]East[/name] Coast chick and I’ve never even heard clair-ah. That sounds weird to me! :slight_smile:

3

Really? I’m from the south and we pronounce it clair-uh. I even have an aunt named [name]Clara[/name] and haven’t heard of it being pronounced any other way.

4

I think you’ve nailed it, [name]Vivian[/name]. :smiley: [name]Clara[/name]'s got regional pronuciations. Up here in New [name]England[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Sara[/name], [name]Lara[/name] & [name]Tara[/name] all have that short [name]AH[/name] at the beginning[for lack of a better term] (Clah-rah, Sah-rah, Lah-rah & [name]Tah[/name]-rah). Then again, I grew up in NJ, near NYC and say them the same way we do here in MA. I have cousins in [name]Georgia[/name] that say my name, [name]Laura[/name], as LAIR-ah, which bugs the heck out of me, it’s LAWH-rah, see why I go by [name]Lola[/name] anymore? I try to avoid names like that, myself for precisely that reason. Regionalizations drive me bananas!

5

I am from L.A. and I say [name]Clair[/name]-uh. My daughter’s name is [name]Laura[/name] and most people here pronounce it [name]Lore[/name]-uh. But we had an interim priest at our church who was from Massachusetts, and he called my daughter [name]Law[/name]-rah. Then when something like that happens I worry that I am pronouncing my own daughter’s name incorrectly. Sometimes I try to find a happy medium somewhere between [name]Lore[/name]-uh and [name]Law[/name]-ra. It’s something like Lawrr-uh.

6

English (South-[name]East[/name], not [name]London[/name]) person here who pronounces it Clah-rah. I’d never heard of [name]Clair[/name]-rah until I ventured onto the name boards of the internet.

7

I pronounce it [name]Clair[/name]-uh. I grew up in upstate NY and we pronounced it like that there, too (I had a friend named [name]Clara[/name]).

8

Deep south, here it’s [name]Claire[/name]-uh. I’ve certainly heard Clah-ruh, but it always sounded a bit affected, like [name]Eloise[/name] at the Plaaaahza. :wink:

Whenever I meet a [name]Laura[/name], I go ahead and ask how she prefers it to be pronounced. Same with [name]Tamara[/name], [name]Lana[/name], and so forth.

9

[name]Clara[/name]-ah I’m from New Zealand