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[Opinions] Question for those in the UK
How do you pronounce the names Caroline and Maria?I'm just wondering because I'm reading a book with these names that was written in England in 1778, and I don't know if the characters would pronounce the names differently than I do.Thanks. Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
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I say CA-row-line (Ca like in cat) and Muh-REE-uh, but some names were said differently in the past and by certain groups (Jor-jee-AH-nuh vs Jor-JAY-nuh for Georgiana springs to mind, for example).
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oh! can I piggy back on this one? are Sara and Sarah pronounced differently to you? if so, why? *I was watching a true crime documentary about a British murder where one family member was a Sarah and another a Sara and I swear they were said differently. Sara was more like Zara.
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we say Sarah to rhyme with carer and Sara to rhyme with Cara or Lara

This message was edited 12/12/2022, 4:03 AM

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I'm from the US and I'd say the first syllable of Sarah to rhyme with "air" and the first syllable of Sara to rhyme with "car". I've seen Sara used for both, but I've only seen Sarah used for the "air" version, so I'd tend to assume Sara is the other way until I hear them say it.

This message was edited 12/7/2022, 9:17 PM

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Yep! Sarah is Sare-uh (rhyming with care) and Sara is sar-uh (rhyming with car). That makes the most sense to me, and really helps distinguish between the two.
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Yep, same.We pronounce Tara and Cara like Sara, too - TAH-ra and CAH-ra rather than TAIR-uh and CAIR-uh.
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that is interesting, we just use them interchangeably in the US as the former. But I kind of like the latter as well
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Yes, I second this.
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My answer is basically the same as Amphelise's:Today, I would say Caroline with the "eye" sound (Care-oh-line to rhyme with mine) and Maria ending with "ee-ah". However, I've seen enough Regency dramas to know that pre-1850 or so, Maria would have ended with "eye-ah". Similar to how you would say Mariah Carey's name.I've heard modern people of an older generation even say Sophia to rhyme with Mariah (i.e. Soph-eye-ah).
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honestly I kind of dig Soph-eye-ah
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Care-uh-line and Muh-ree-uh, roughly.ETA: I thought this said US, please disregard completely, lol!

This message was edited 12/6/2022, 9:19 AM

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I pronounce them Ka-rə-lien (‘ie’ as in eye) and Mə-ree-ə.However, I understand that going back a couple of hundred years Maria was often pronounced Mə-rie-ə.
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I have lived in the UK my whole life.I pronounce Caroline KA-ruh-lien, with the 'a' as in 'apple' and 'lien' rhyming with 'mine'.I pronounce Maria muh-REE-uh, but if I'm not mistaken it would have been pronounced muh-RIE-uh in England in 1778. (Basing this off the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice lol)
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