# Why does Deborah Kerr rhyme with "car"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 14, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484 "2014-09-14T17:13:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/1 "2014-09-14T17:13:20Z")
I’ve always heard that Deborah Kerr’s last name is pronounced to rhyme with _car_, _far_, or _tar_. Why is that? Is it a British thing? Or a Scottish thing? Do other people named Kerr pronounce it the same way? How about Graham Kerr or Miranda Kerr?
Of course, I realize the answer might be no more complicated than “because she says it that way,” but I’m sensing there might be a deeper truth out there. Fight my ignorance, if you please!
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/2 "2014-09-14T17:29:04Z")
How do you pronounce James Clerk Maxwell?
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/3 "2014-09-14T18:46:34Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> Of course, I realize the answer might be no more complicated than “because she says it that way,” but I’m sensing there might be a deeper truth out there.
I am pretty confident that there isn’t. Certainly there are British people named Kerr who pronounce it to rhyme with “fur”. Particular ways of pronouncing names, especially surnames, are simply family traditions, whose origins are almost certainly going to remain forever obscure.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/4 "2014-09-14T18:54:47Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> I’ve always heard that Deborah Kerr’s last name is pronounced to rhyme with _car_, _far_, or _tar_. Why is that? Is it a British thing? Or a Scottish thing? Do other people named Kerr pronounce it the same way? How about Graham Kerr or Miranda Kerr?
No. The more common pronunciation of the name “Kerr” is /kɛr/ which (in my accent at least) is the same as “care”, not “car”.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/5 "2014-09-14T18:56:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> How do you pronounce James Clerk Maxwell?
Now that you’ve brought that up, what _is_ the deal with the British pronunciation of “erk” as “ark,” as in “Clerk” and “Berkeley”? Is it just, as **njtt** said, family tradition, or is there something linguistically special about that combination of letters?
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/6 "2014-09-14T19:02:18Z")
Actor Kerr Smith pronounces his first name to rhyme with her not car, so it doesn’t seem to be universal.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/7 "2014-09-14T19:15:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> How do you pronounce James Clerk Maxwell?
My first thought was “Berkeley Square.” Also, I’ve usually heard George Bernard Shaw’s middle name pronounced “BAR-nard.” I don’t know if that’s how he pronounced it, though, or if it’s Americans over-generalizing from Berkeley and the like.
Considering Featheringstonehaugh, etc., “Kerr” could be pronounced “ball peen hammer.” Or “Caughner Niquolos.” Sometimes spellings just don’t give you a clue.
OT, but I’d love to see an SNL skit with a baby-name spelling bee. [/OT]
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/8 "2014-09-14T19:20:00Z")
I thought Deborah Kerr’s surname rhymed with ‘Goatgobbler Stangrove’.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/9 "2014-09-14T19:24:32Z")
There is a Congressman Tiberi who pronounces his last name “tea-berry”. Either that’s an idiosyncratic pronunciation or they think “tuh-bear-y” sounds too Italian. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/10 "2014-09-14T19:54:55Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> Also, I’ve usually heard George Bernard Shaw’s middle name pronounced “BAR-nard.”
Well, I am not sure what you think it should be, or, indeed, how he himself pronounced it, but the regular British pronunciation of that name is _ **BUR** -n’d_, whereas, to the best of knowledge, the regular American one is _Ber- **NARD** _. I have never heard him called _ **BAR** -nard_, in either country. Of course, he was actually Irish, so…
([Barnard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnard), pronounced your way, is a name, but it wasn’t his name.)
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/11 "2014-09-14T20:51:02Z")
On this subject, how is err pronounced? (As in, “To err is human.”) I’ve always though it was pronounced like air. But I’m listening to an audio book and the reader pronounces it as ur. Which of us is wrong?
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/12 "2014-09-14T21:06:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> On this subject, how is err pronounced? (As in, “To err is human.”) I’ve always though it was pronounced like air. But I’m listening to an audio book and the reader pronounces it as ur. Which of us is wrong?
To my surprise, the OED only mentions the “ur” pronunciation, with the vowel of “burn”.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/13 "2014-09-14T21:07:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> On this subject, how is err pronounced? (As in, “To err is human.”) I’ve always though it was pronounced like air. But I’m listening to an audio book and the reader pronounces it as ur. Which of us is wrong?
I’ve heard it both ways (not to get all Shawn Spencer on you). I’ve always assumed (without any good reason) that the first way is the American pronunciation and the second is the British.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/14 "2014-09-14T21:31:40Z")
Former president of University of California, Clark Kerr, pronounced it like the word “care”. Only the spelling of names is legally bound, so people can pronounce their names pretty much any way they please. Like the Enroughty family in Virginia, who for many generations have pronounced their name as if it were spelled Darby.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/15 "2014-09-14T21:40:30Z")
There have been three Major League Baseball Players whose surname was LeFebvre, who all pronounced it differently:
Jim la-FEE-ver
Joe la-FAY
Bill la-FEV (closest to the original French)
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/16 "2014-09-14T22:25:03Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> ([Barnard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnard), pronounced your way, is a name, but it wasn’t his name.)
As in [Barnard’s Star.](https://www.google.com/search?q=Barnard's+Star&safe=off&client=safari&hl=en&biw=320&bih=460&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=VBUWVP_mFsidyATb1IHADA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ) Which, of course, rhymes with “Kerr.”
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/17 "2014-09-14T22:45:45Z")
This ought to be within the bounds of this thread’s general intent, but there was a vocal group in Nashville from the 50’s (still active) known as [The Anita Kerr Singers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Kerr) that were backup artists for any number of hit recordings in Country, Pop, and even Jazz genres. She pronounced it to rhyme with “fur” or “cur” (this may be why Karr may be preferred).
The fun thing about her is that her husband (at least at the time that I was delivering blueprints to architectural firms in the area) changed his surname to Kerr to avoid being thought of merely as Anita’s husband.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/18 "2014-09-14T23:51:34Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> This ought to be within the bounds of this thread’s general intent, but there was a vocal group in Nashville from the 50’s (still active) known as [The Anita Kerr Singers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Kerr) that were backup artists for any number of hit recordings in Country, Pop, and even Jazz genres. She pronounced it to rhyme with “fur” or “cur” (this may be why Karr may be preferred).
😕
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> The fun thing about her is that her husband (at least at the time that I was delivering blueprints to architectural firms in the area) changed his surname to Kerr to avoid being thought of merely as Anita’s husband.
😕😕
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/19 "2014-09-14T23:55:54Z")
> [@cmyk](#):
>
> As in [Barnard’s Star.](https://www.google.com/search?q=Barnard's+Star&safe=off&client=safari&hl=en&biw=320&bih=460&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=VBUWVP_mFsidyATb1IHADA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ) Which, of course, rhymes with “Kerr.”
Well, yes, if you mean the first syllable, and Kerr as in Deborah.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-deborah-kerr-rhyme-with-car/698484/20 "2014-09-15T00:05:48Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> 😕
> 😕😕
I’ll need more than the emoticons to address whatever puzzles you. 🙂
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