How do you pronounce the name Lara?

Factual Questions
1

As in Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft.

I’ve always rhymed “Lara” with “sayonara”, and supposed that folks who said “Laura” were committing a solecism. (For those who don’t know, there are nine planets in the solecism.) But them new television commercials for the movie seem to be saying Laura-with-a-u. So now I just don’t know.

This question also pertains to the old Clifton Webb movie. I saw that film so long ago I that I don’t remember, but I had the same feelings when someone would mention “Laura’s Theme” – that it was a grievous error.

Can anyone help, maybe especially PlayStation owners? I believe that the video game used actual voices, so the heroine’s name must’ve been uttered once or twice.

2

It’s a russian name I believe.

You’re right, as in sayonara

short a - short a

3

While most of us would agree that many names have traditional pronunciations, some people insist on bizarre new age pronunciations.

Just ask anybody named Tisha.

4

I’m going to see the movie in about ten minutes. I’ll let you know how Angelina Jolie pronounces it when she introduces herself when I get back.

5

Sayonara, Lara, Laura…

I’m saying these to myself, trying to hear what the difference might be, but it’s subtle at most. I’d say that Lara rhymes with sayonara, and Laura sounds almost the same but my lips become a little more rounded at the end of the first vowel sound. Maybe. I might just be fooling myself, because they’re all so close.

6

I think it probably depends on where you live. I myself do notice a (very slight) difference between “Lara” and “Laura.” The first is more like “lah-ra” and the second more like “low-ra.” Lots of people pronounce them both the same, though.

7

It’s pronounced: “poutylipsandbigtits”.

Say. :slight_smile:

That has a certain…lilt to it, doesn’t it? :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
Yeah. :smiley:

8

There is definately a difference between Lara and Laura.

My name is Laura. It’s pronounced Lor-a (short o, short a). Lara is pronounced with 2 short As. I don’t like my name being mispronounced. :slight_smile:

9

Whenever I see it, I pronounce your name l’sur-a. Of course, maybe I’m dyslexic and can’t read your name correctly. :slight_smile:

10

Lsura wrote:

Surely you don’t pronounce the final “a” in your name as a short-a sound? I think that one would be universally pronounced as a schwa. As far as I know, there are two equally valid ways to say your name: “law-ruh” and “lore-uh”. I think you’re saying that you do the former. I would do the same, but I would also pronounce “Lara” the same way.

I guess scratch’s OP was saying that he would pronounce the first vowel of “Lara” like the first vowel of “Larry”, which is a short-e sound in my dialect, but close to the short-a sound. It confused me when he said that he would pronounce “Lara” to rhyme with “sayonara”, because I pronounce “sayonara” to rhyme with “Laura.”

You have to be careful when you compare the pronunciation of words like this, because different dialects pronounce words differently. Here are some examples from my dialect which might not be the same as yours:

Perfect rhymes:
Mary, merry, marry.
Bother, father.
For, fore.
Pen, pin.

Not rhymes (but are to some people):
Cot, caught, court.
Hock, hawk.

11

Lara (it should rhyme with Mara), is indeed Russian-it is a diminutive of Larissa.
Which was, of course, the character’s real name in Doctor Zhivago.

12

Rhyme:
Lara
Far a(-way)

13

I always though Lara was a variation in spelling of Laura.

Course, round here, Laura and Lara sound the same, as well as line and lion, pen and pin (as mentioned before), records and “Eckerds”, and so on.

This is north Florida by the way, which is not the Florida you see on post cards.

Mostly oaks and pines, red clay soil, and rolling hills. And no stupid mice.

14

In the movie they all say lore-ah. I figured it was la-ra before seeing it. I wish I hadn’t seen it, but that’s another issue. I review the flick on my site at http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/tombraider.html.
Incidentally, I now find I type it as Tomb Radier every time, and have to correct it. I guess that’s the French spelling.

15

[hijack]
Oh come on…I wasn’t THAT bad. :wink:

Ok…so it wasn’t Indiana Jones, but it was fun. (What I call ‘mindless entertainment’. NO thinking involved…just sit back and enjoy the ride.)

Funny thing is though, while watching it and seeing that they were mucking with the idea of planetary alignment, I sat there and thought to myself, “Oh TBA is going to have a field day with this! The planets are SO closed together! Who’da thunk it?!”

[sub]Love your site BTW :)[/sub]

[/hijack]

I believe it depends on where you’re from. Back in the UK, some names are pronounced differently.

I pronounce it like Jomo Mojo said.

Others I work with pronounce the 'Lar" like ‘Care’

16

Here in north central Georgia, there is a definite difference.

And CurtC? I’ve pronounced my name my whole life, so I’m pretty sure what it sounds like. :slight_smile:
[sub]of course, I could grumble a bit and say that lore-uh was close too but I would have to grumble.[/sub]