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: 01-02-2006
Thu, 11-08-2007 - 10:11am

Okay, but since it's the only way I understand the difference, I'm going with it, lol! :)

Darla Don, I mean Dawn


Darla
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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-14-2003
Thu, 11-08-2007 - 12:41pm

LOL!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2001
Wed, 11-14-2007 - 8:36am

Yeah, it's definitely still only one syllable-- but I always thought it was all of you that were saying it wrong! lol ;)


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2001
Wed, 11-14-2007 - 8:47am

Hi, I'm still here, and I don't pronounce it Doe-wun at all! It's definitely not two syllables, it's still only one. But I was trying to give an idea the sound that "aw" makes, and I noticed that the mouth moves and the tongue is placed pretty similarly to the way it would be for the word "order" (without the "r" sound!) It's hard to put into words the pronunciation of "awe" (as in "awe-inspiring") b/c in a lot of other parts of the country, it's pronounced like "ah", not quite the way native NY(C)ers would pronounce it.


While it sounds like a lot of the non-NYC posters pronounce "Dawn" with a "short o" sound, I do not pronounce it with a "long o".



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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-02-2006
Wed, 11-14-2007 - 10:11am
Just wanted to make a note about my "doe-un" comment -- I neither thought you were saying it's a long o or that it's 2-syllables as it seems it may have come across. It's like you said, hearing it described as "order" without the "r" really helped me hear as close as I can understand it how the word that *I* hear as DON (sp. Dawn) comes out others' mouths. Hope that makes sense!


Darla
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-03-2006
Wed, 11-14-2007 - 4:29pm

my fave show is I Love Lucy, and on the episodes Tennessee Ernie Ford is on, they say youi-ns and we-ins, i know is exaggerated humor. that was my inspiration.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-13-2006
Thu, 11-15-2007 - 4:37am
I just saw this thread again and I had to say that, I think its really interesting that so many people can say one name so differently. I don't think anyone is really right or wrong. I see what the people who say they are totally different sounds are saying, I finally get it! LOL. When I think about it I do notice that people in the south say it them the
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2007
Thu, 11-15-2007 - 5:28pm

Definitely a regional thing. I'm from New York / New Jersey and I don't say these two names the same.


I say the O in Don like ahhhh (like open wide and say ahhh) - phonetically Dahn.


I say the AW in Dawn like awwww (like aww isn't that baby cute) - phoenetically Dawn - imagine Mike Myers on Saturday Night Live saying "This is Cawfee Tawk" and that's the sound of Dawn.


However I know that in other parts of the country people say it the same way - but I would never meet a girl named Dawn and think her name is Don. That's like people in other parts of the country say the boy's name "Aaron" and the girl's name "Erin" the same way (I don't).


Tracy


P.S. In case you're wondering,

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2001
Thu, 11-15-2007 - 8:54pm

haha, I was thinking about "Aaron/Erin" too and was going to post something about it myself!!! I pronounce them the same way you do:


>>That's like people in other parts of the country say the boy's name "Aaron" and the girl's name "Erin" the same way (I don't).<<,


>>>P.S. In case you're wondering,

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-09-2005
Fri, 11-16-2007 - 1:05pm
To me, it is one of those names that is truly unisex- I see no problem with it on either gender and have no preference.