Americans are lazy proununciators.

Sara: Sar-uh (emphasis on the uh)

Sarah: Sar-rah (emphasis on the R)

Most Americans use them interchangably

Anonymous wrote:I mean you can make people pronounce your name any way you want, but we do have a somewhat standard American English pronunciation.

This reminds me of when my grandma got dementia she made everyone call her "Non-cee" instead of Nancy.

She sounds amazing.

I mean you can make people pronounce your name any way you want, but we do have a somewhat standard American English pronunciation.

This reminds me of when my grandma got dementia she made everyone call her "Non-cee" instead of Nancy.

The pronouncination you want of Sara is the Spanish pronouncination.

Like Sara Ramirez (former Grey's Anatomy actress).

You may have better luck with Zara, Zahra, Sariah, or Sari if you like the sound of the names but want something different than Sara(h).

Unfortunately the most common cancellation of a name is always going to win out, you will be setting up the child for a lifetime of corrections. I know someone named Fiona (pronounced F-EYE-oh-na) and multiple times a day she is correcting people on the pronunciation. She finds it extremely irritating, even though she likes her name.

I've never heard anyone pronounce Sara/h say-ra except my really country cousins from Mississippi.
Most people say sair-uh. Anyway, I think name your child what you want. No matter what it is, some people will have trouble with pronouncing it, spelling it, misreading it or calling her by the wrong name, etc. those things happen with every name there is. Yes, it'll be kind of annoying for first you and later your daughter to always be correcting people but it's not a big deal really. I say this as someone with an unusual name that I always have to spell for people, correct, etc. as long as the person who messes up my name or questions me about my name is not rude or obnoxious (and most aren't) I really don't mind having an unusual name. I'm glad my parents gave me a name they loved that was meaningful to them instead of just randomly picking a common, "normal" name.

just name her Zara or Zahra. Close enough, and people will pronounce the "a" the way you want. If you name her Sara, it will be pronounced in the way that rhymes with "air" because she won't be correcting everyone in preschool and elementary school.

I am a Sarah and don’t give two flips how people pronounce it. My South African friend sounds totally different than my Midwest friends from my Appalachian family (SUR-h). So I guess that is a new one for this thread. Go roots and be SUR-h!

I think this is a regional dialect issue. I have a friend with the name Karen...she grew up in the North East with everyone calling her Ka-Ren but has found elsewhere people say it as though it rhymes with Erin.

Anonymous wrote:My name rhymes with Sara/h and people pronounce it lots of ways:
- Sare-ah (“sare” that rhymes with stair)
- Sar-ah (“sar” as in sari)
- Sah-rah (“sah” that rhymes with the sound sheep make)

The last one (which is what I think you want) is common in the greater NYC area (like people saying “ah-range” for orange) and British English speakers.

It's pretty obvious here that you are Indian and your name is Tara. "Thah-rah"

Anonymous wrote:Sah-ra is the Hebrew pronunciation. It's probably a more common pronunciation in places where Hebrew or Yiddish is spoken.

I thought it was sah-rai? I thought this is how the orthodox community pronounces it (mainly Sephardic or Syrian). I think it's only appropriate for the Jewish community to pronounce it that way.