TobyInkster.co.uk
25/05/2007: Non-Intuitive Surnames
Below is a non-comprehensive list of surnames which are pronounced non-intuitively. (Or one could argue that they are pronounced perfectly sensibly but the spelling is non-intuitive.)
I’ve also included a count of how many times each surname applies in the 2006/07 Brighton telephone directory, to give you an idea of the relative importance of learning to pronounce each name correctly.
| Spelling | Pronunciation | Freq |
|---|---|---|
| Althorp | Owltrop | 0 |
| Ayscough | Askew | 0 |
| Beauchamp | Beacham | 12 |
| Beaudesert | Belzer | 0 |
| Beaulieu | Bewley | 0 |
| Belvoir | Beaver | 0 |
| Chandos | Shandos | 0 |
| Chisholm | Chiz'm | 11 |
| Cholmondley | Chumley | 0 |
| Cockburn | Coburn | 10 |
| Colquhoun/Colquhon | Co'hoon | 6 |
| Cowper | Cooper | 3 |
| Crawshaw | Crayshaw | 2 |
| Dalziel | Dee'el | 6 |
| Farquhar/Farquar | Far'har | 2 |
| Featherstonehaugh | Fanshaw | 0 |
| Fiennes | Fines | 0 |
| Gower | Gore [1] | 40 |
| Greenhaugh | Greenallsh | 0 |
| Home | Hume [1] | 3 |
| McKenzie/MacKenzie | Macinnie [1] | 59 |
| Magdalene | Maudlin | 0 |
| Mainwaring | Mannering | 1 |
| Marjoribanks | Marshbanks | 0 |
| Menzies | Mingis [1] | 5 |
| Ruthven | Ruffen | 0 |
| St John | Sin-jen | 5 |
| Trywhitt | Territ | 0 |
| Urquhart | Urhart | 5 |
| Wauchope | Warkup | 3 |
| Wodehouse | Woodhouse | 1 |
| Woolfhardisworthy | Woolsey | 0 |
| Worcester | Wu'ster | 2 |
| Wriothesley | Roxley | 0 |
| Wymondham | Wind'am | 0 |
⁂
1 Also pronounced as spelt.
Comments
Comment 001
Nice list, Toby. One typographical metathesis, though: isn’t the name “Tyrwhitt”?
Mike Lyle (of a.u.e.)
Date: Sunday, 27th May 2007, 4:27pm (BST)
Comment 002
I’ll add one that’s rather dear to me.
Gwozdz. Pronouced “GahVOOSH”
Date: Wednesday, 30th May 2007, 7:23pm (BST)
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