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HelpRe: Cara or Clara?
in reply to a message by itsonlylogical
A friend had a baby Cara about a year ago and I think it's a sweet name. I pronounce it cah-ruh
I always pronounce Clara clair-uh - I got this pronunciation from my British mother who used to grow a cultivar of tulip called "Dame Clara Butt" after a British singer. Otherwise I never heard the name growing up. I don't like clah-ruh because I'm unused to it and I also think that this must have been the way Hitler's mother - a Clara - pronounced it, and that makes me shudder. When I asked an American friend how he says Clara he said it to rhyme with para (as a previous poster also does). I'd not considered that pronunciation before, but I wonder whether that's how it was said in Dickens' day - there are two people called Clara in "David Copperfield". It's like the beginning of Clarence. Anyway, I saw a very recent television adaptation of Copperfield in which Clara was pronounced Clah-ruh which I suspect is a modernism.
So, which do I prefer - Cara or Clara?
Cara because I feel Clara would always be correcting people who would say Clah-ruh when I want Clairuh
However, because Cara is a fairly "new" name I'd use something well-rooted in history like Elizabeth or or Louise or Rosalind or Sylvie for a middle name.
I always pronounce Clara clair-uh - I got this pronunciation from my British mother who used to grow a cultivar of tulip called "Dame Clara Butt" after a British singer. Otherwise I never heard the name growing up. I don't like clah-ruh because I'm unused to it and I also think that this must have been the way Hitler's mother - a Clara - pronounced it, and that makes me shudder. When I asked an American friend how he says Clara he said it to rhyme with para (as a previous poster also does). I'd not considered that pronunciation before, but I wonder whether that's how it was said in Dickens' day - there are two people called Clara in "David Copperfield". It's like the beginning of Clarence. Anyway, I saw a very recent television adaptation of Copperfield in which Clara was pronounced Clah-ruh which I suspect is a modernism.
So, which do I prefer - Cara or Clara?
Cara because I feel Clara would always be correcting people who would say Clah-ruh when I want Clairuh
However, because Cara is a fairly "new" name I'd use something well-rooted in history like Elizabeth or or Louise or Rosalind or Sylvie for a middle name.
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