Pronunciations

**Jack Daw** · 26th June 09, 01:46 PM

You'd think anyone in the States could pronounce 'McIntyre' correctly, but I get a lot of times, 'Muh-KIN-ter', MACK-in-teer', or 'Dun-lop'.

**heilanner** · 26th June 09, 04:14 PM

i've heard the name Lamont pronounced two different ways; Lamint and Lamont (the emphasized syllable in bold).

the 2nd version was an Englishman, the 1st a Scot i went to school with. make of that what you will.

**Dan R Porter** · 26th June 09, 04:22 PM

"You say tomato, I say tomatoe, lets call the whole thing off!"

**thoth51** · 26th June 09, 07:09 PM

And here I thought Westerners had trouble with Chinese names

**SteveB** · 26th June 09, 07:58 PM

My take on Lamont. My Lamont side of the family pronounces it "Lamb-it", except for one cousin that says "Lam-int".
I do not argue with how my customers wish their names pronounced. MacDonnell expects to hear MACK-DOE-nell. etc.

Slainte

**Wompet** · 27th June 09, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by SteveB

MacDonnell expects to hear MACK-DOE-nell. etc.

Of my Donnell relatives, most of them pronounce it DON-nell. Then there's the one branch that says it DON-ell. But we don't talk about them.

**SteveB** · 27th June 09, 05:19 PM

Distant cousins DON-nell, have an interesting take on the origins of names. They have no European ancestry that we can find. All originated in Central Africa, and shortly after their sale in the New World, stayed within their ethnic heritage. Both the documents and the DNA are 100% Sub-Saharan. As the family genealogist, I researched the family back through many documents. The early arrivals here never had a surname, and after the emancipation, a record asking for a surname was filled in as "don't know". Shortly after that various clerks filled in the name as Dontknow, Donnow, Dontnel, and Donnell, which has stuck to this day.

**gilmore** · 27th June 09, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by Wompet

Of my Donnell relatives, most of them pronounce it DON-nell. Then there's the one branch that says it DON-ell. But we don't talk about them.

Wasn't that Superman's father?

**Morris at Heathfield** · 26th June 09, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by thoth51

And here I thought Westerners had trouble with Chinese names

Chinese names are easy because they're pronounced exactly the way they're spelled. 林 is pronounced "林", 蔡 is pronounced "蔡", 胡 is pronounced "胡", and so on.

**Fit2BKilted** · 27th June 09, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by hospitaller

Saltire: sal-tire or sal-teer ?

MacKay: mah-kay or mah-ky or machay ?

MacIver: mac-eever or mac-i-ver ?

wondering minds...

I'm no particular authority; but, I'm most familiar with SAUL-tear

I've known several people with the surname "MacKay", and no fewer than 3 favoured pronunciations among them: Mah-KAY, Mah-KAI, and MAK-ee

I'm also predisposed to the Mack-EYE-ver phoneme.