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I've always pronounced the first syllable of Daria to rhyme with "car" and the first syllable of Dara to rhyme with "dare". I like both names and have never heard of the cartoon character.

I love DAH-ree-ah, but hate DAIR-ee-ah. I've never heard of the cartoon character, but I suppose diarrhea could be a problem. I don't think DAH-ree-ah and diarrhea sound very similar, though.

I want to like Daria but then I also think of the word, 'diarrhea.' Doesn't work for me.

Daria makes me think of the cartoon and a Russian girl I met while staying with a host family in France. (She might have spelt it Dariya)
I quite like the name, but would never use I don't think. I really don't know how it sounds like 'dare ya!' - I say DAH-ree-a. To me, diarrhoea doesn't sound like Daria, but perhaps it would if you were speaking really fast or quietly...

I say it DAR-ya and I like it. So, no problem here with dare ya, and diarrhea ... well, whatever. It wouldn't stop me. I'm not really into it if it's pronounced DAIR-ya though.

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I like the name Dara "DARE-a" too.

I knew brother and sister (not twins) who were named Daria and Darius.

In many languages, variants such as Darja, Darya, essentially the same name, and even Daria, don't have the 'ee' sound in it. I think that's very anglophone. I've only met Russian Daryas (DAHRR-ya) where there isn't this pronounced 'ee' sound which I find so irritating.

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I think pronunciations like Dair-yah, der-ee-ya, whatever, silly and very artificially contrived.

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Depending on how you're saying it and the accent in your area, yes, I think diarrhea and such is going to be a problem. I think it's an okay name, problematic and not great, but...eh... The only thing I ever really liked about it was the Russian diminutive Dasha, which I've always found so cute, but that's neither here nor there and hardly applicable.

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This message was edited 3/19/2012, 7:10 PM

I prefer Dara. Daria is tainted. There is this awesome girl in one of my classes named Darica, also, so that is another option.

I like the pronunciation...

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Dair-ee-a, but that doesn't seem to be how it's supposed to be pronounced. Everybody seems to say it the same as the cartoon character, Darr-ee-a, and that really does sound too similar to diarrhea. I didn't much like the cartoon anyway, I did at first but it got old fast.

I like the name well enough, but it doesn't knock my socks off. It's pretty, but it's also kind of...blah.

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I don't know if the diarrhea thing would be a problem, since B&B was YEARS ago. Kids today probably wouldn't know the joke.

This message was edited 3/19/2012, 5:26 PM

I love Daria and Dasha as a nickname. The associations you mentioned don't matter where I live and Daria is quite common here.