# Lora/Laura/Lara -- common pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246 "2007-10-10T18:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/21 "2007-10-10T21:49:03Z")
Lora = lore-uh. Rhymes with For A, Store A, Tor-a, Bora Bora. Laura = almost like Law-ruh. Slightly more R in the first syllable; almost like larw-uh. First syllable pretty much rhymes with far, bar, tar, car, har-de-har-har. Slightly less nasally than far, bar, tar, etc. Lara = lah-ruh. First syllable pretty much rhymes with ma, fa (as in do-re-me-fa), da (like the Irish word “da”). It’s like the “ah” sound in “magic wand.” Anyway, they’re all different to me, but Lora and Laura are not so different to each other as Lara is to them. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/22 "2007-10-10T21:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] Follow-up question: Does the way you pronounce “Tara” depend on the way you pronounce “Lara”? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sternvogel] I’d think it might, since my instinct is to say both to rhyme with “Sarah” (I hope nobody pronounces that name “SAHR-uh”). [/QUOTE] In my Hebrew school, we had at least one of each of the following: Cara, Lara, Sara, and Tara. We also knew a Mara. Cara was pronouced like “Cara mia.” Lara was more like “Laa-ra,” but I’ve heard of others that rhyme with Cara. Sara was actually pronounced “Saa-ra,” but I think that was because her mother was English and insisted on it. By the time we hit high school, however, Sara’s mom had lost the battle, and everybody pronounced Sara’s name like “Sarah.” Tara also was a “Taa-ra,” but I think it’s more common to rhyme with Cara. Mara was (and is) also a “Maa-ra,” but the actress Mara Wilson pronounces it to rhyme with Cara, I believe. To summarize, everybody but Cara was pronounced with an a sound like in “father,” but the names are also pronounced the other way. Me, I just assume any of those names can be pronounced two ways, and find out which one is right for the individual. As far as Laura/Lara–these are obviously different. To pronounce “Lara” like “Laura” doesn’t make a bit of sense. Maybe that’s how Lara Croft’s name is pronounced, but…oh hell, something about a throatwarbler mangrove. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/23 "2007-10-11T00:15:54Z")
laura = lawrah lora = lorah (like nora with an l) lara = lahrah (most of the ones i know are russians. it is the nickname for larissa = lahreesah. so the a’s are all pronouce the same.) ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/24 "2007-10-11T01:57:07Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] A Laura checking in here to agree with you. And don’t call me “Laurie”. :mad: [/QUOTE] I’m another Laura, and I’ll agree with **Brynda’s** pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/25 "2007-10-11T02:43:29Z")
My daughter’s name is Laura, and she agrees with you. My mother (who has more southern in her) does say her name: “Lah-ra” instead of “Lo-rah”, but we forgive her. 😉 And she hates Laurie, too… I do know of one person who named their daughter Lora, to prevent this type of thing. I know a Tara who rhymes with Sarah. Don’t know a Lara that rhymes with Sarah, though. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/26 "2007-10-11T04:07:40Z")
I do know someone named Lora, and she (and everyone else) pronounces it the same as Laura, i.e. LORE-uh. Lara is LAH-rah ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/27 "2007-10-11T04:43:06Z")
[QUOTE=Fretful Porpentine] Lor-a, Lor-a, and Lah-ra, respectively. The first two are homynyms, the third is not. [/QUOTE] Same here. FTR: Tara = Tah-ra Sarah = sAIR-ah So Lara and Tara rhyme with each other, but not with Sarah. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/28 "2007-10-11T07:31:45Z")
My sister is a Laura and she routinely murders people who call her ‘Lore-uh’. It’s ‘Law-rah’. Would you pronounce Paula as ‘Pole-uh’? Is Shaun to be ‘Shone’? ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/29 "2007-10-11T09:40:47Z")
The Name Laura is frequent in German, where it is pronounced Law-rah, where “au” is pronounced like the “ow” in English “How” ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/30 "2007-10-11T13:53:27Z")
[QUOTE=Brynda] Laura=law ruh Lara=lar uh (subtle difference, basically Lara is pronounced without the pronounced u and with less of a pause) Lora=lore ah IMHO, at least. [/QUOTE] What she said. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_McMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Trisha\_McMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_McMillan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/31 "2007-10-11T15:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=Cazzle] Same here. FTR: Tara = Tah-ra Sarah = sAIR-ah So Lara and Tara rhyme with each other, but not with Sarah. [/QUOTE] I’m with **Cazzle** , Lora and Laura the same with the first syllable of Lara to rhyme with car. Lar-a to rhyme with Tar-a but \*not \* with Sarah as above. And perhaps it’s because I’m a Brit, but I can’t really hear the difference between ‘Lore-uh’ and ‘Law-rah’ except possible that there is a pronounced ‘r’ at the beginning of the second syllable. Am I missing something with my old world pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/32 "2007-10-11T15:32:34Z")
My sister’s name is Lara. La-ra. Not Lour-ra, not Lair-ra. She hates it if people mispronounce it! ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/33 "2007-10-11T19:19:20Z")
My name is Laura, pronounced lore-ah. The exact same as Lora. I have been all over the U.S. and I don’t remember ever being called law-ra, and I have never had anyone ask me how to pronounce it before, so this thread is very odd to me. It would never occur to me to call another Laura law-ra. If someone has an accent it might come out a little more as law-ra but I have only heard that with southern accents and it never occured to me that it was anything more than an accent, not a whole other way of pronouncing it. Older men tend to call me Laurie, but no one else. Lara = the first part rhymes with car. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/34 "2007-10-11T20:08:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cazzle] Same here. FTR: Tara = Tah-ra Sarah = sAIR-ah So Lara and Tara rhyme with each other, but not with Sarah. [/QUOTE] I just came in to make this very point, however I think Sara (sans h) at least in Britain is pronounced to rhyme with Tara and Lara. This is confusing! FWIW Laura and Lora = Lore-ah to my ears Lara = Lah-rah ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/35 "2007-10-11T20:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=Fretful Porpentine] Lor-a, Lor-a, and Lah-ra, respectively. The first two are homynyms, the third is not. [/QUOTE] Ditto here. This seems to be one of those Mary/marry/merry questions, where some people pronounce all three the same, some all three different, and some where two are homonyms and one is not. (For me “Mary=marry,” but not “merry.”) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/36 "2007-10-12T00:02:21Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Ditto here. This seems to be one of those Mary/marry/merry questions, where some people pronounce all three the same, some all three different, and some where two are homonyms and one is not. (For me “Mary=marry,” but not “merry.”) [/QUOTE] We had fun with this one, my missus is from Ohio, I’m Irish. It gets more complicated when you include the name Marie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/37 "2007-10-12T00:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] We had fun with this one, my missus is from Ohio, I’m Irish. It gets more complicated when you include the name Marie. 🙂 [/QUOTE] That’s “muh-REE,” ain’t it? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/38 "2007-10-12T00:49:18Z")
It can be “muh-REE”, or “MAR-EE”, sometimes sounds like “MREE”. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/39 "2007-10-12T03:19:11Z")
I pronounce it however the woman introduces herself. In this day and age it’s hazerdous to guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246/40 "2007-10-12T04:34:26Z")
[QUOTE=missbunny] Laura = almost like Law-ruh. Slightly more R in the first syllable; almost like larw-uh. First syllable pretty much rhymes with far, bar, tar, car, har-de-har-har. Slightly less nasally than far, bar, tar, etc. Lara = lah-ruh. First syllable pretty much rhymes with ma, fa (as in do-re-me-fa), da (like the Irish word “da”). It’s like the “ah” sound in “magic wand.” [/QUOTE] I keep saying these over and over out loud using your descriptions, and I can’t make them sound different. Law-ruh and Lah-ruh sound precisely the same to me. [QUOTE=HelloKitty] LOW-ruh, not LORE-ah [/QUOTE] Again, I’m saying these out loud to myself, and LOW-ruh and LORE-ah sound almost identical. [QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] Follow-up question: Does the way you pronounce “Tara” depend on the way you pronounce “Lara”? [/QUOTE] The only place I’ve ever heard “Tara” was in _Gone With the Wind_, so that’s how I pronounce it. I do know a “Tera,” though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lora-laura-lara-common-pronunciation/422246.md?page=3)