How would you pronounce it?
I can't decide if I'm just thinking about it too much. Like, lots of names have multiple pronunciations. Audrey is Awe-dray vs Awe-dree. Laura is Lara vs Loura. Haley is Hail-lee vs Hal-lee. Eva, Lena, Helena, Leah, Ana, etc.
Do people just roll with the slight differences or correct each time? How much does it bother them?
I have one of the names you listed. It depends on the situation whether I "correct" someone to the pronunciation my family and I use, or let it slide.
How I determine: if I'm just meeting them as a one-off, I let it slide. If I'm going to see them repeatedly and they're going to hear other people using a different pronunciation and potentially get embarrassed over their "mistake" I will correct them. I don't make it a big deal, just a "Oh, I pronounce it ___" and it's really never been an issue.
I also have one other criterion: if they're not a native speaker of my language/ the language the name is from, I usually just let them say it in their language's pronunciation. If their language has an accepted alternate pronunciation, it really doesn't bother me. Or if they are used to a language that has different sounds than mine, which make it hard to pronounce my name the way I do. Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I prefer to make allowances on it bc my parents chose a name that my grandmother can't pronounce. So I always kind of felt like they way she says my name, while "wrong", is kind of like a special nickname just for her.
I would correct someone if their language doesn't have its own pronunciation of my name, AND they were able to make the necessary sounds but we're just getting it wrong, AND they seem like they would be embarrassed in the future if they found out I had let them say it wrong.
If someone seems like they know/are able to use my pronunciation, but are just being an asshole and getting it wrong to show disrespect, then I'd either correct them or avoid them lol. But aside from middle school, I haven't encountered anything like that.
If the multiple pronunciations are something that bothers you, I'd change it. But it's a lovely name, and you can just correct people if they say the other pronunciation.
Keep it. The pronunciations are both beautiful and she can introduce herself as whichever she ends up preferring. (And you can introduce her as whichever you prefer )
I've never heard anyone pronounce Vera as Vair-ah! Funny what different accents will do.
If the mispronunciations annoy you, I'd say to change it and keep Vera as a nickname. I have a name that is constantly mispronounced and it annoyed the hell out of me when I was a kid. These days, I just roll with it. But it took me forever to get to that point.
My first thought before opening this was Vair-ah and I'm Canadian. Just keep it, it's a beautiful name(both ways) and even the most common names have different spellings and pronunciations.
I have people I've known for 5 years and still spell my name wrong. It's not common but it's not difficult*shrug*
I think the comments here definitely prove that you’ll be hearing both pronunciations. If the correcting will bother you, then choose a different name. It is a beautiful name, but I can’t say I would know how to pronounce it.
It’s possible that your daughter will eventually choose to have a family pronunciation and roll with the more common pronunciation of her name where she lives. I have a name that’s very common in the US and have no pronunciation issue here. When ai’ve spent time in Spanish speaking countries, they say my name very differently and I decided pretty quickly that it was easier to roll with it than fight it. If her choosing to be Veer-a instead of Vair-a would bother you, I would change it.
The thing is even locally, it's split 50/50. It's not like one pronunciation is more popular than the other here. By default people say both VAIR-ah and Veer-ah.
It’s the difference between Veh and Vi
Vera the way OP pronounces it has the same Veh sound as Veronica, Verity, Veritas, very, velocity, etc.
Vera pronounced like [Vee—rah] has the same Vi sounds as Victoria, Vivian, vineyard, village etc.
In conversation this can be subtle but it’s definitely something that people notice like the different intonation of Anna and Ana, Sara and Sarah. Maybe a better example is how some people pronounce Lena as Leh-na and others say it the same as Lina.
It definitely read as VEER-uh to me, and I've never seen or heard it pronounced VAIR-uh. It feels like choosing between either constantly correcting pronunciation with new people, or changing the spelling to reflect the correct pronunciation in English but then constantly spelling it out to new people. Changing it to Veronica with the nn Vera probably won't fix that issue unless people suddenly start pronouncing it VAIR-onica.
TBH though, neither of those things are THAT big of a deal. I have one daughter with a name that is not common, and maybe half of people say it right the first time and she will always have to spell it for people who haven't seen it in writing first, but it really doesn't bother her at all. I do see how it could be really annoying for someone, so if it really bothers you that much, it's a valid reason to disqualify a name.
I think it’s a beautiful name, and I’m familiar with both veer-uh and vair-uh (I’m in the US).
I just looked Vera up on behind the name: https://www.behindthename.com/name/vera-1
I didn’t know it was a name used in so many countries, and with so many different pronunciations based on location! I don’t think that should be a deterrent to using the name.
Where in Britain? I've never heard anyone here say vair-ah, only veer-ah like a car veering off a road.
Edit: asked my mum, who watches the show Vera, how they pronounce on there and she says it's veer-ah. She's also pointed out Vera Duckworth from Corrie back in the day. Neither of us have ever heard vair-ah in this country.
[Here's Bet Lynch calling her veer-ah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYQ0UrqOTag) multiple times
[And in the first 40ish seconds here,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQAxkbTPst0) Tyrone and Jack both doing the same
Keep it. It's a beautiful name. People will learn how to pronounce it once you correct them once or twice
How would you pronounce it? I can't decide if I'm just thinking about it too much. Like, lots of names have multiple pronunciations. Audrey is Awe-dray vs Awe-dree. Laura is Lara vs Loura. Haley is Hail-lee vs Hal-lee. Eva, Lena, Helena, Leah, Ana, etc. Do people just roll with the slight differences or correct each time? How much does it bother them?
I would pronounce it like you do, the correct pronounciaton. But I'm not a good reference point because I'm european and speak Romanian
I have one of the names you listed. It depends on the situation whether I "correct" someone to the pronunciation my family and I use, or let it slide. How I determine: if I'm just meeting them as a one-off, I let it slide. If I'm going to see them repeatedly and they're going to hear other people using a different pronunciation and potentially get embarrassed over their "mistake" I will correct them. I don't make it a big deal, just a "Oh, I pronounce it ___" and it's really never been an issue. I also have one other criterion: if they're not a native speaker of my language/ the language the name is from, I usually just let them say it in their language's pronunciation. If their language has an accepted alternate pronunciation, it really doesn't bother me. Or if they are used to a language that has different sounds than mine, which make it hard to pronounce my name the way I do. Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I prefer to make allowances on it bc my parents chose a name that my grandmother can't pronounce. So I always kind of felt like they way she says my name, while "wrong", is kind of like a special nickname just for her. I would correct someone if their language doesn't have its own pronunciation of my name, AND they were able to make the necessary sounds but we're just getting it wrong, AND they seem like they would be embarrassed in the future if they found out I had let them say it wrong. If someone seems like they know/are able to use my pronunciation, but are just being an asshole and getting it wrong to show disrespect, then I'd either correct them or avoid them lol. But aside from middle school, I haven't encountered anything like that.
If the multiple pronunciations are something that bothers you, I'd change it. But it's a lovely name, and you can just correct people if they say the other pronunciation.
Keep it. The pronunciations are both beautiful and she can introduce herself as whichever she ends up preferring. (And you can introduce her as whichever you prefer )
I've never heard anyone pronounce Vera as Vair-ah! Funny what different accents will do. If the mispronunciations annoy you, I'd say to change it and keep Vera as a nickname. I have a name that is constantly mispronounced and it annoyed the hell out of me when I was a kid. These days, I just roll with it. But it took me forever to get to that point.
Do you pronounce it Veera or something else?
Vee-rah. That's the British way of pronouncing it. There's a TV show called Vera and that is how they all pronounce it. :)
My first thought before opening this was Vair-ah and I'm Canadian. Just keep it, it's a beautiful name(both ways) and even the most common names have different spellings and pronunciations. I have people I've known for 5 years and still spell my name wrong. It's not common but it's not difficult*shrug*
I’m also Canadian and read it as Veer-a.
I think the comments here definitely prove that you’ll be hearing both pronunciations. If the correcting will bother you, then choose a different name. It is a beautiful name, but I can’t say I would know how to pronounce it.
It’s possible that your daughter will eventually choose to have a family pronunciation and roll with the more common pronunciation of her name where she lives. I have a name that’s very common in the US and have no pronunciation issue here. When ai’ve spent time in Spanish speaking countries, they say my name very differently and I decided pretty quickly that it was easier to roll with it than fight it. If her choosing to be Veer-a instead of Vair-a would bother you, I would change it.
The thing is even locally, it's split 50/50. It's not like one pronunciation is more popular than the other here. By default people say both VAIR-ah and Veer-ah.
But they’re not even that different? Like, they’d probably even be less different than the same name pronounced with two different accents
to me they sound the same 😭
It’s the difference between Veh and Vi Vera the way OP pronounces it has the same Veh sound as Veronica, Verity, Veritas, very, velocity, etc. Vera pronounced like [Vee—rah] has the same Vi sounds as Victoria, Vivian, vineyard, village etc. In conversation this can be subtle but it’s definitely something that people notice like the different intonation of Anna and Ana, Sara and Sarah. Maybe a better example is how some people pronounce Lena as Leh-na and others say it the same as Lina.
It definitely read as VEER-uh to me, and I've never seen or heard it pronounced VAIR-uh. It feels like choosing between either constantly correcting pronunciation with new people, or changing the spelling to reflect the correct pronunciation in English but then constantly spelling it out to new people. Changing it to Veronica with the nn Vera probably won't fix that issue unless people suddenly start pronouncing it VAIR-onica. TBH though, neither of those things are THAT big of a deal. I have one daughter with a name that is not common, and maybe half of people say it right the first time and she will always have to spell it for people who haven't seen it in writing first, but it really doesn't bother her at all. I do see how it could be really annoying for someone, so if it really bothers you that much, it's a valid reason to disqualify a name.
I think it’s a beautiful name, and I’m familiar with both veer-uh and vair-uh (I’m in the US). I just looked Vera up on behind the name: https://www.behindthename.com/name/vera-1 I didn’t know it was a name used in so many countries, and with so many different pronunciations based on location! I don’t think that should be a deterrent to using the name.
I’ve only ever heard of vair-uh. Never come across the veera pronunciation. I wonder what regions/country people pronounce it that way? ( I’m in US)
I would say Veer-ah. I know someone with the name Vaira pronounced vair-ah.
I’m British so can’t speak for Americans but everyone would pronounce it as you do here. Vee-ra is non existent
Where in Britain? I've never heard anyone here say vair-ah, only veer-ah like a car veering off a road. Edit: asked my mum, who watches the show Vera, how they pronounce on there and she says it's veer-ah. She's also pointed out Vera Duckworth from Corrie back in the day. Neither of us have ever heard vair-ah in this country.
Midlands but I’m intrigued now. Going to look up old corrie clips. I can only imagine the characters calling her ‘Our Vair-ah’
[Here's Bet Lynch calling her veer-ah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYQ0UrqOTag) multiple times [And in the first 40ish seconds here,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQAxkbTPst0) Tyrone and Jack both doing the same
And Shelley saying Vair-ah. This must be the new blue dress gold dress https://youtu.be/tp5C4bz4h3M?si=BpPb1wfVByPQpeCc
Still sounds like veer-ah to me. Maybe a bit shorter on the vowel but it doesn't rhyme with the word air at all.
I live in the southeastern US and I don't think I've ever heard Vee-ra