Spellings of Laurence

General Name Discussion
1

I’m curious to hear opinions of the different spellings and variations of this name.

[name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] (a family name for me)
[name_u]Laurence[/name_u]
[name_m]Laurent[/name_m]
[name_m]Laurens[/name_m]
[name_u]Laurence[/name_u]
[name_m]Laurenz[/name_m]

Which do you like best?
Which feels most intuative to pronounce?

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Well, [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] is my favourite :grin: I like its soft look and the similarity with “laurel”

Laurent is my second favourite

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I like [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] best. Not sure why, its just most visually appealing i guess.

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Laurence! But [name_m]Laurent[/name_m] is also very cool.
I think all of them are very intuitive, although [name_m]Laurens[/name_m] probably makes me pause the most, im struggling with wrapping my head around it for some reason!

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Laurence is my favourite! It’s the easiest way to get to [name_u]Laurie[/name_u], which is a lovely nickname. Second would be [name_m]Laurent[/name_m].

The most intuitive spellings to pronounce are [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] & [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] for me. [name_m]Laurens[/name_m] (or [name_m]Laurenz[/name_m]) is a variant popular in [name_u]Germany[/name_u], because that’s the most intuitive spelling there, but I’ve heard [name_f]English[/name_f] speakers say law-rens (like lens) for [name_m]Laurens[/name_m] so it isn’t as intuitive for me.

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laurence, laurent & lawrence are my favourite!

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[name_u]Laurence[/name_u] for me!

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I like [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] best.

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Laurent is my favourite! I Think [name_m]Laurens[/name_m] and [name_m]Laurenz[/name_m] are cool too. [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] in my mind leans more féminine and [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] feels slightly dated but could work.

Would you be pronouncing [name_m]Laurent[/name_m] as ‘lorRON’ or ‘LOR-ent’ ?

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That’s a great guestion! I have no idea, in my head I like LOR-enT but I’m pretty sure it’s french so lorRON might be more correct

Thanks to everyone else for all the feedback!!

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I prefer the look of [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] for the [name_f]English[/name_f] pronunciation. I also like the [name_m]Little[/name_m] Women connection.
[name_m]Laurent[/name_m], [name_m]Laurens[/name_m] and [name_m]Laurenz[/name_m] are Frech and [name_m]German[/name_m] to me respectively, so I’d want to pronounce them differently.
[name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] just doesn’t appeal to me personally, it makes me think of [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] and the silly nickname JLaw.

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[name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] is law-rense
[name_u]Laurence[/name_u] is more laur-ence

I prefer [name_u]Laurence[/name_u]

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that makes sense, it’s good to know how people pronounce them differently

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Im immediately drawn to [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] but [name_m]Laurent[/name_m] was my second choice! Both offer a straightforward pronunciation I feel. (:

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Lawrence is the most intuitive in [name_f]English[/name_f]-language and across different languages, IMO.

  • The [au] 's sounds varies by language. Usually “oh” or “aw.” Caulk vs auditition vs aural vs au pair.
  • Whereas [aw] is pretty much a consistent “aww.”
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@Quentin99
In [name_m]Laurent[/name_m], one does NOT pronounce the N or the T.

Lo-r[ahw] … The nasal vowel, “en” is its own sound. And then the N and T are silent.

Although I do like [name_m]Laurent[/name_m], I would vote this as the LEAST intuitive pronunciation option.

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@LynnG, thanks for that pronunciation note, those french names always get me with their unintuative pronunciations and extra letters thrown on to the end of words

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@Quentin99 sure thing. It’s a downside of our alphabet / list of letter sounds that we learn growing up. Many other languages have different letters to distinguish between a hard and soft “th” (e.g. those and think), which, when you think about it, would be sooo useful!!

Or even just having a “foreign sounds” section built into the alphabet at the end would be helpful! (like Hebrew/Arabic “kh” and “gh” …like [name_m]Khalil[/name_m] and Ghassan ). So at least ppl could spot them and not be completely stumped by a word’s pronunciation.

Re [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u]: I also really like the family connection. AND if he ever choses to go by the NN of [name_m]Lawrie[/name_m], that NN spelling is the obvious male spelling, whereas [name_u]Laurie[/name_u] is not.

Best of luck!

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[name_f]Lore[/name_f], Laur and Lawr are very similar but I [name_f]Imagine[/name_f]

[name_f]Lore[/name_f]-If you say loo-ore really fast
Laur -if you say Loo-a-ore really fast
Lawr - if you say [name_m]Law[/name_m]-our really fast

[name_u]Laurence[/name_u] - if you say loo-a-ore-ence really fast
[name_u]Lawrence[/name_u]-if you say law-our-renserealky fast
[name_m]Lorence[/name_m] -if you say loo-ore-ence really fast

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