Taara for a girl?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes it is an Indian name meaning star and pronounced Tar-uh, not Tare-ah. I thought of the aa spelling to prevent people from pronouncing it Tare-uh.

Tare-uh just sounds too 80s and I just don't like the name. I know some people will mispronounce but I am hoping a phonetic spelling will help with that.

The hard t versus soft t issue is a puzzler for us. We want an Indian name and eliminating all soft t names, AND finding a name that is easy to pronounce AND has a nice meaning AND that we can both agree on is a toughie.

OP as a fellow Indian-American who is also thinking about baby names, just go with whatever you feel comfortable with. I think Taara is fine and much less likely to get the mispronunciations. That said, people will always pronounce the T incorrectly, and as long as you are okay with that, then so be it (I have a t in my name and don't correct anyone. I did get my husband to pronounce my name properly, though!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes it is an Indian name meaning star and pronounced Tar-uh, not Tare-ah. I thought of the aa spelling to prevent people from pronouncing it Tare-uh.

Tare-uh just sounds too 80s and I just don't like the name. I know some people will mispronounce but I am hoping a phonetic spelling will help with that.

The hard t versus soft t issue is a puzzler for us. We want an Indian name and eliminating all soft t names, AND finding a name that is easy to pronounce AND has a nice meaning AND that we can both agree on is a toughie.

Taara - I would consider Tarra, Tarah or Tarrah to confirm the tar instead of tare. I think the extra a would lean more to tare vs. The extra r for tar.

These are great suggestions. I would pronounce all of these as you want it pronounced, minus the T issue which I'm not sure I understand as a non-Indian.

It's a beautiful sounding name and I like the look of these three suggestions. I don't love the look of Taara.

[Anonymous]

Is that a typo?

[Anonymous]

My name is Tara.

Most people who first meet me pronounce it the way you are hoping for (though I pronouce it the Irish way). I wouldn't get creative with the spelling. Just go with Tara and most people will pronouce it right - if they don't you can correct them. It's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

I know Taras who pronounce it each way (neither are Indian). You could stick with Tara and just pronounce it how you like when introducing her. The Tar-uh pronunciation is common enough that it shouldn't be a big deal even if people say it wrong to start with. I don't know about the t thing though.

[Anonymous]

fwiw my name is Tara (Tare-uh) and people have struggled with spelling/pronouncing my name my whole life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:fwiw my name is Tara (Tare-uh) and people have struggled with spelling/pronouncing my name my whole life.

I know a Tara as an acquaintance and I can't for the life of me remember which one his her right name.

Please, OP, go with one of the spellings like Tarra or Tarrah to help out the rest of us!

[Anonymous]

FWIW I have two friends named Kari. One says Car-ee, the other Care-ee. So, you will probably have to clarify the pronunciation of Tara/Taara either way.

[Anonymous]

PP who originally brought up the T issue. I agree that it may not be completely accurate, but you will get closer with a 'th' than a 't'. There are so many Indian people I know who used a T for just the reason other PPs mentioned. That's fine, but know that it will never be pronounced as you want. That's too nuanced of a difference. My sister has a name like this and her boyfriend of 5 years still messes it up sometimes!

Most American names that starts with TH do not sound like 'the'. Think Thurgood, Thames, etc. I still think that sound gets you closer to the correct pronunciation. Just my two cents. I do think it's a beautiful name when pronounced correctly!

[Anonymous]

You and your DD will have to educate people about the pronunciation no matter how you spell the name. My first reaction was that Taara looks weird, but do whatever you want as long as you realize any spelling will not eliminate the pronunciation issue! My DD has an Indian name and it gets mangled sometimes and pronounced almost- correctly sometimes and correctly sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing Indian too, but even most Indians would spell it Tara when transliterated from the original.

True, but I know a lot of people who are changing the spelling of the names to make it easier to pronounce. For example Meera instead of Mira.

That said, to the poster after you who suggested using "th", I really disagree. In my mind there's a big difference between the Indian soft "t" sound and the hard "th" sound. Plus you risk people using the sound in the words "the" and "there", which I think sounds much worse than someone saying Tara pronounced the English way.

please, as a PSA, please don't spell the name so that it is easier to pronounce. my parents did this with my indian name. it looks weird plus it still gets butchered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I personally would add the "th" to get to the pronunciation you want. I don't think it's a hard T sound, if you are thinking about the Indian name. I would also keep in the 2 As; people will have an easier time remembering it's not pronounced 'tarah'.

At first I thought you were suggesting OP spell the name "Thara" or "Thaara"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would add the "th" to get to the pronunciation you want. I don't think it's a hard T sound, if you are thinking about the Indian name. I would also keep in the 2 As; people will have an easier time remembering it's not pronounced 'tarah'.

At first I thought you were suggesting OP spell the name "Thara" or "Thaara"

I believe that IS what the person you were quoting suggested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually like Taara because it promotes the "ah" sound - so you will be sure to get T-ah-ra instead of Tare-a.

My guess is that you're Indian?

That's Tiara in the US.

[Anonymous]

Tara is also an Iranian name and we pronounce it as Tahra. The Taara spelling is incorrect English so I wouldn't go with that. For other indian names easy to pronounce in English I also like Meera and Leela.