Are Aaron and Erin pronounced the same?
Some say that Aaron/Erin is a "unisex" name. Which I find strange, as they are spelt differently are are of different origins with different meanings.But it seems that in English the names are pronounced the same. I don't, I pronounce Aaron as "AIR-on" and Erin as "ERR-inn". But maybe I'm pronouncing at least one of them wrong."You sought a flower and found a fruit. You sought a spring and found a sea. You sought a woman and found a soul. You are disappointed."
"It does not become me to make myself smaller than I am." (Edith Södergran 1891-1923)
vote up1vote down

Replies

Ylva, I'm with you here: Aaron = air-on and Erin = errin in South Africa, where Erin girls are prevalent but Aaron boys are not. So our version of Aaron comes from the pulpit, or from school classrooms; there's a New Zealand rugby player called Aaron Mauger and he pronounces his name Aron Major ... confusing to the foreign!
vote up1vote down
Where I live, Erin and Aaron are pronounced exactly the same. However, I would pronounced Aaron A-ron and Erin Air-in.
AndrewProud Adopter of 32 Punctuation Pets. See my profile for their names."To a brave man, good luck and bad luck are like his right and left arms. He uses both."
St. Catherine of Siena"It is not length of life, but depth of life."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
vote up1vote down
I live in Erin, and my name is Erin, and if anyone tried to call me Eerin, I'd be knocking them down...Im a girl, yes, but its pronounced Air-in not Eerin
vote up1vote down
There is no "right or wrong" here, it's a matter of accent or dialect. In most of the United States (outside of New England and parts of the New York City and New Jersey area), the pronunciation of American English has lost the "a" sound that is found in the word "cat" before "r", and so all the words which would have that sound in England, Australia, or Boston, Massachusetts, end up sounding like they contained the word "air". So to most Americans, Aaron and Erin are pronounced the same, as are the pairs Kerry/Carrie, Berry/Barry, fairy/ferry, Harry/hairy, Mary/merry, Perry/parry, and Terry/tarry. Most people in England and Australia would never think of these pairs as having the same pronunciation, but outside of the Northeast the huge majority of Americans would think that they are identical.
vote up3vote down
Seriously, almost all of those "pairs" of words you've put here are most definitely NOT pronounced the same. HAIR-ee (hairy)is not the same as HA-ree Harry), BEAR-ee (berry) is not the same as BA-ree (Barry), KAIR-ee (Kerry), is not the same as CARRY (Carrie), PAIR-ee (Perry) is not the same as PA-ree (Parry), TAIR-ee (Terry) is not the same as TA-ree (tarry). Ferry and Fairy are pronounced ALMOST the same, but with fairy, you hold the vowel a fraction longer, where ferry is a short clipped word. Mary and merry is the same as fairy and ferry. The same sounds but one is held longer.Either the person who wrote this post has a hearing clarity issue, or the people around them have no idea how to enunciate.
vote up-1vote down
I'm from the West Coast - My mom grew up in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri before moving to California at the end of high school. There are some things she says that drive me nuts ("salza" instead of "salsa"), but, I suppose, like her, I pronounce these words with a nearly indistinguishable difference (Berry/Barry) - My uncle's name is Berry (not Barry). To my wife, who's from New York/New Jersey/Connecticut, she says I pronounce "Aaron" and "Erin" the same. But I know she's not "really" listening to the difference. It's where I'm putting the emphasis on the vowel sound. However, I have to admit I'm likely pronouncing as the same vowel sound.This little trick from Reddit I stumbled across will likely help me with some of my pronunciation:
"In Wales, I know several Aarons who pronounce it Air-un, the double /aa/ beginning lengthens the initial sound. Erin is always eh-rin, with a short /e/ like in ‘egg’."
vote up1vote down
I'm afraid that you must think, upon listening to them closely, that most Americans "have no idea how to enunciate." We are indeed not taught how to do so, or at least I was not. I'm from Austin, Texas and grew up pronouncing all of these word pairs exactly the same, and continue to do so, though I know others who pronounce them slightly differently. berry = Barry = bury. I presume it was a similar dialect issue that led the class to be very confused when my Latin teacher attempted to use the words "pin" and "pen" to demonstrate the difference between the short "i" and "e"; most of the class pronounces these words identically with the "i" sound, as in most words with "en". He would have been better off using "pit" and "pet", which are much more distinct. I would have said "pin" and "pen" were homophones (same pronunciation, different definitions). I find the differences in pronunciation across different English-speaking areas fascinating.
vote up1vote down
It's called having a different dialect
vote up3vote down
I have this issue every time people speak my name. I used to live in New York, so it was never an issue before. I don’t understand why people think Aaron and Erin are the same name. They’re not, therefore they wouldn’t be pronounced the same way.
vote up1vote down
I've started telling people to think about the double A sound in other words and use that for my name. Baal, Aardvark, AARGH (like a pirate).
This way sounds nice, and it's distinctly different than Erin.
vote up2vote down
Hello there! You are absolutely right! Thank you .
I am an irish girl Erin.
Aaron is Hebrew and is a boys name! It upsets me too.
vote up1vote down
No, you're correct. Aaron is AIR-ohn and Erin is EHR-ihn. Some people might say them the same way, but technically, that's wrong.
vote up1vote down
French here:
Aaron = ah-ah-ron
Erin= eh-rin
~~ Claire ~~
My ! are Alia, Eidel, Enola, Israel, Dudel, Yuri, Lina, Lorelei, Leilani, Owen, Julian, Glorinda, Mirinda
My ? are Hillel, Meshullam, Johnny, Ginny, Cordelia, Fiammetta, Yocheved
My ~ are Tehila, Tilda, Hailey, Gillian, Huldah
My / are Aglaia and July
vote up1vote down
I belive the spelling for erin is for a girl, and aaron is for the male.
vote up1vote down
In the Southeastern part of the US (Virginia), they're pronounced the same (AIR-in).
vote up1vote down
In Germany they're not pronounced the same. I'd pronounce Aaron as "AH-ron" and Erin as "ERR-inn".
vote up1vote down
In the Midwestern United States, they're pronunced the same. Both are said AIR-in.Array
"Phineas. That's an interesting name."
"Yeah. It's Latin for 'kick me'."
vote up1vote down
I live in the Midwestern US and Aaron and Erin are pronounced the same here although I think it would more accurate to label them as different names that happen to be pronounced the same. I think if people here viewed them truly as unisex they would use the spellings interchangibly for both sexes which is not the case. Aaron is used exclusively for boys and Erin exclusively for girls.
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
~Mark Twain
vote up2vote down
Not in England or Australia . . .Aaron is A-ron (short 'a') and Erin is EH-rin. Quite different - I'm always surprised that a US accent can make them sound the same!:-)
ChrisellAll we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
vote up1vote down
I pronounce Aaron as ah-rin (well close to that, maybe more like AHE-rin) and Erin as AIR-rin/EAR-rin.
and I wonder
when I sing along with you
if everything could ever feel this real forever
if anything could ever be this good again

vote up1vote down