Don or Dawn question....

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Don or Dawn question....
36
Tue, 11-06-2007 - 5:36pm
I'm not planning to use this name. I just wanted to know what others thought. I love the name Dawn, it was my Mom's middle name but I have known older men whose names are Don. To you, is it a girl or boys name? Does it depend on the spelling? I seem to learn more toward it being a female name if the spelling is Dawn but then again, like I said, I have met men named Don and didn't think twice. Just wondering....
~samantha

-srm

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2001
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 12:12pm

Easy- I pronounce them differently!


Don is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled: Don


Dawn, for me is D-aw-n, not Dohn

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-14-2003
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 2:05pm

Wow, where did you say you were from again?

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-02-2006
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 3:08pm
Um, no! None at all. Isn't that funny? Okay, I can admit that if I say D-ahhhh-n (like saying "ah" at the doctor's), I can hear what you're saying. But to say Don like that to me would be highly unnatural. To me (I'm from the Pacific Northwest), they both sound like the way you describe Dawn.


Darla
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-03-2006
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 3:16pm

midwest here, around Chicago, we say Dawn like would say Yawn or Lawn, where as Don is just like On, with D in front. arent we funny how we all talk n drawl differently.


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2001
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 3:18pm

I'm also from NY and I totally get what fourthboyinaugust is saying, lol


How about this- for the name, Dawn- imagine sayind the word "order". Now imagine the vowel sound without the "r" following it. That is the sound of "aw" to us. It's not the same as "ah". "Ah" is a sigh, and "aw" has a sound that's kind of like trying to make the sound of "or", but not pronounce the "r". You kind of stop before you bring your teeth together to make the "rr" sound.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-02-2005
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 5:11pm

I have lived in Texas, Washington, Maryland, and Sicily, and we made a tour of the U.K. when visiting my mother's family there (where my cousin Dawn is). I also know a guy named Donald (Don).


They sound essentially the same to me. The only real difference is that Don is more clipped, and Dawn is said with the throat opened more than it is for Don.


Also, flutterdance, LMAO...what is "youins"?






Avatar for dr_kae
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 9:16pm
And that's the difference--Don is clipped, Dawn is elongated. The only difference, but it makes a world of difference in telling me who you're talking about--my old boss Don or my SIL Dawn.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-02-2006
Wed, 11-07-2007 - 11:31pm

I get it! I get it! I finally get it! I should have thought about it more when you said you were from the northeast. And this explanation helped me "hear" it (the "order" without the r). Dawn is almost 2 syllables for you, but not quite, right? Doe-wun ... that's not *quite* it, but I have the right idea going now, correct?

Okay, so ... um ... you're pronouncing it wrong. JUST KIDDING! But those of us who haven't "gotten it" so far pronounce the two names pretty much the same ... like DON.


Darla
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Thu, 11-08-2007 - 4:17am

I can't remember what the name was but a few months back we had a huge, nasty debate about how it was pronounced.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-14-2003
Thu, 11-08-2007 - 8:09am

Actually, the poster from NY who mentioned the Doe-wun sound is probably from the NYC/Long Island area of NY (are you still here poster?).