We named our daughter, now 8 months old, [name]Clara[/name].
We say “Cla-ra” and very very often hear back “[name]Claire[/name]-a?”
[name]How[/name] to politely correct people?
Where are the other people who say it with a short a sound “Cla-ra”?
Anyone been frustrated by a surprise in name pronounciation?
[name]Do[/name] you correct everybody or just when it is someone who will be getting to know the kid?
Thanks!
Are you saying that you pronounce it to rhyme with [name]Laura[/name]? Otherwise I can’t figure out the difference b/n Cla-ra and [name]Clair[/name]-a, at least with my accent. I think most people in the US would naturally say [name]Clair[/name]-a, so I think you are just in for a lot of adamant correcting. 
[name]Clara[/name] is in our top 3 names and we pronounce it Clar-ah, not [name]Clair[/name]-ah (both a sound the same). It might be due to my French background, but it’s definitely the way I (and my husband) prefer. I would simply keep on correcting people, with a smile.
I have a feeling we’ll have it easier here since there’s a large French community (Eastern [name]Canada[/name]). Good luck!
I love the name [name]Clara[/name]…but I’ve always pronounced it “[name]Claire[/name]-ah.” Is the difference between that and how you pronounce it really that bad? It’s still a pretty name, and people’s accents are always going to differ at least a bit.
I’m in NZ and would pronounce it as you do, Cla - ra, rather than [name]Clair[/name]-a.
It doesn’t rhyme with “[name]Laura[/name]” to me. The “a” sound in the middle is an ahhh sound rather than an air sound.
It must be an accent thing.
Lol, also in NZ and ran into this problem as a child when I befriended a girl from [name]America[/name] called [name]Kara[/name]. We say Kaah-ra, they said [name]Keer[/name]-uh. Obviously we went with our best attempts at pronouncing it how she pronounced it but it did take a whole heaps of correcting on her part the entire time she was living here! In fact, that’s probably why she moved back to the States haha
I noticed the same thing on American Idol - [name]Kara[/name] whatsherface was always correcting [name]Simon[/name] Cowell because he kept calling her Kaah-ra. It’s the same with [name]Tara[/name] too. [name]Samara[/name] and Samaire are totally different names depending on the accent of the person you’re talking to!
Random side note: This particular [name]Kara[/name] had a sister called [name]Brynn[/name] which was the first and only time I’ve ever heard [name]Brynn[/name] on a girl!
I totally get your frustration!! My Dad’s name is [name]Harry[/name]- here in the NY area, we pn it Hah-ry, whereas most people pn it like hairy. Ugh, I hate that!! It’s not Hairy!! My son’s MN is [name]Harrison[/name] after him, and it bugs me that most people pn that Hair-ison as well :roll:
This is a main reason why I probably won’t use the name [name]Anna[/name] for a first name if we have a girl. I pn it [name]Ah[/name]-nuh (ah as in apple) vs. [name]Ann[/name]-nuh. I don’t like the name nearly as much when pn [name]Ann[/name]-nuh.
FTR, I say [name]Clara[/name] the same way you do, same as [name]Tara[/name], [name]Sarah[/name] etc. but in my experience, I’m definitely the minority. When I went to college in [name]Florida[/name], I would have some people ask me to repeat their names because they thought it was interesting the way I pronounced them with my “accent.”
You know what we need on this site? An ability to attach recorded versions of us pronouncing names :lol: It’s so hard sometimes to phonetically write out a pronunciation!
[name]Even[/name] some words you may use as a sound example could be pn differently by someone. For instance, I always use the word “apple” to indicate the short “a” sound in names, but a few people I know from upstate NY would pn it like “aipple” with more of an “ai” sound like “air.” So that would be a bad example in that case!!
thanks. I also live in a bilingual region!
I’m not surprised at all. It’s not only ethinically-linked, it’s regional in the US, too, I think. We had to rule out an entire category of names ([name]Tara[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Cara[/name], [name]Lara[/name], [name]Mara[/name], [name]Sara[/name], [name]Zara[/name]) because my French Canadian family pronounces [name]Tah[/name]-ra or Clah-ra while the rest of the Southeast says Tair-uh or [name]Clair[/name]-uh. Too frustrating. Hang in there, though. It’s a beautiful name however it’s pronounced and it’s worth pushing your pronounciation.
I’ve always pronounced it in a kind of Spanish way :lol: (Clah-rah)
Are you in the US? 'Cause if you are, then that would explain the pronunciation issue.
There’s never really a “polite” way to correct somebody, you just have to say “Actually, it’s [name]Clara[/name], not [name]Claira[/name].” , and then just give them a big cheesy smile as a way of saying “I didn’t mean to embarrass you!” 
I find it pretty annoying when people say names incorrectly, and so does my mother, who is called [name]Polina[/name], but, any British person assumes it [name]Paulina[/name]… I find it hilarious! (:
I have a [name]Clara[/name] and we say [name]Clair[/name] a. I thought the other prn was a Spanish thing. We have not encountered anyone that was not Spanish that said Clah ra.
I think it maybe be diffrent accents; my friend from New [name]York[/name] tells me that Marylandeners hold their R’s too long and yet my friend from [name]Alabama[/name] says that Marylandenders don’t hold some of their letters long enough.
Also for many people the way you pronounce [name]Harry[/name], [name]Tara[/name], [name]Clara[/name] and etc., are incorrect and yet form many others your pronounciation is correct so truly when you say that someone is pronoucing a name wrong you wrong as names are pronounced diffrently all over the world (my name is pronounced diffrently as soon as I cross statelines so I tell peole that" I have O’s in my name, not I’s,") except [name]Polina[/name], that’s a fairly obvious pronounciation and the same in many places.
So if you want your child’s name to be pronouced a certain way just tell someone. No need making a big deal as truly people will get it after you tell them one or two times.
I guess I could say it is a French Canadian thing.
Thanks for your posts. Now I will be more sympathetic to the [name]Claire[/name]-a sayers! Then I can say, yes, it is like [name]Claire[/name]-a, but we say it Cla-ra (with two short a sounds).
Thanks again.