Pronunciation .. which do you prefer ?

General Name Discussion
1

I came across the name [name]Lyra[/name]
the meaning behind it was intriguing … come to find out there are two ways to pronounce it
Lie-rah ( as i had first thought it was pronounced )
and Leer-ah ( like the constellation containing the brightest star in the night sky [name]Vega[/name])

which pronunciation do you prefer?
~[name]Chantel[/name] [name]Marie[/name]

2

[name]Lee[/name]-ra. I’ve never considered it the other way. It just sounds mispronounced to me!

3

I’ve always pronounced it Lie - rah like the main character in the book/movie the [name]Golden[/name] Compass.

4

I love the name because of the books, but until the movie came out I thought it was pronounced [name]Lee[/name]-rah, like the star. I still prefer it that way. The “Lie” syllable in the Lie-rah pronunciation is just off-putting to me, why would you want to name your child something that sounds like “liar”?

5

I pronounce it Lie-rah and love it

[name]Lee[/name]-ruh sounds like leering

6

[name]Lee[/name]-rah definitely.

8

Lie-rah, I never even thought of it being [name]Lee[/name]-rah, pronouncing it that way reminds me of the currency Lira.

9

lie-rah (like lycra)

10

Yes exactly, and I know a woman who’s name is actually Lira–pronounced lee-ruh. So it seems like a completely different name to me.

11

I always pn it as Lie-ruh

12

I would have pronounced it Lie-rah.

13

I would also say [name]Lee[/name]-rah. When I see [name]Lyra[/name] I see [name]Lyric[/name] hence the ‘[name]Lee[/name]’ sound.

14

This name is pronounced “lie-rah” but since anything goes nowadays people are pronouncing names in their own way.

15

Since the first time I heard of it was in The [name]Golden[/name] Compass I pronounce it lie-rah. If someone said lee-rah I don’t know if I’d get that they meant [name]Lyra[/name].

16

I thought I was Lie-rah, but I much prefer the Leer beginning.

17

[QUOTE=greyer;1559620]I love the name because of the books, but until the movie came out I thought it was pronounced [name]Lee[/name]-rah, like the star. I still prefer it that way. The “Lie” syllable in the Lie-rah pronunciation is just off-putting to me, why would you want to name your child something that sounds like “liar”?[/

i agree about how you originally thought it was pronounced, but I love Lie-ra much more.

QUOTE]

18

Like someone else already mentioned, I’m inclined to pronounce it [name]Lee[/name]-rah due to the similarity to the word [name]Lyric[/name]. However, I’m pretty sure that both [name]Lyra[/name] and [name]Lyric[/name] come from the word [name]Lyre[/name], which I pronouce Lie-ur, so I dunno what’s up with that :slight_smile:

19

I would say lie-rah in English. (In my native Swedish however, the y would be pronounced like the ü in [name]German[/name] für or ue in French rue.)

20

I say Lie-rah, first time I heard it was in the [name_u]Golden[/name_u] Compass as well. I think it sounds better, and I like another name ([name_f]Nyla[/name_f]) that I pronounce Nie-lah, which has almost the same spelling.

21

Poor ‘Northern Lights’, lol. [name_m]Philip[/name_m] Pullman must still be bitter over that one.

I first read [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] in the book and thought it was ‘leer-a’, with the ‘[name_m]Ly[/name_m]’ being like the [name_m]French[/name_m] [name_m]Lyon[/name_m] ‘leeyon’ but - as other people have said - it’s actually like the constellation ‘lie-ra’.

I still like it though.