List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations

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This is a set of lists of English personal and place names whose pronunciations are counterintuitive to their spelling, because the pronunciation does not correspond to the spelling, or because a better known namesake has a markedly different pronunciation. The latter are known as heterophonic names (the opposite of homophones, which are written differently but pronounced the same).

Excluded are the numerous spellings which fail to make the pronunciation obvious without actually being at odds with it: for example, the pronunciation /skəˈnɛktədi/ of Schenectady is not immediately obvious, but neither is it counterintuitive.

See Help:IPA for English for guides to the IPA symbols used, and variations depending on dialect.[n 1]

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Place names of the UK and Ireland

See List of places in the United Kingdom and Ireland with counterintuitive pronunciations, and:

Place names in the United States of America

See:

Place names in Canada

Place names in Australia

Place names in New Zealand

Place names in other English-speaking countries

Given names

Emboldened names are traditional so while not intuitive, are among the most well-used.

Most commonly used of Irish and Welsh origin

Surnames

A-B

C

D-E

F-H

I-L

M

N-Q

R

S

T-V

W-Z

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ For towns near the cusp of two dialect regions, both variants are usually heard, and wider still for important cities or even within them. Examples in that article include New York and Bath
  2. ↑ French for "Bay of Hope", ironically pronounced "Bay Despair"
  3. ↑ The Thames River in Connecticut is intuitive: /ˈθeɪmz/.
  4. ↑ The town's name however is intuitive.
  5. ↑ c.f. influential Duke of Albany and Albany, New York
  6. ↑ Cf Brisbane, California, which is /ˈbrɪzbeɪn/
  7. ↑ Canberra as /kænˈbɛrə/ is rare and deprecated
  8. ↑ Same as the surname.
  9. ↑ When spoken in the clipped way, the same as original Scottish surname McKay.
  10. ↑ Polish-derived pronunciation /kɒˈʃʊʃkoʊ/ is sometimes used for the Australian example.
  11. ↑ American English pronunciation of “Antoine" see the section on his name.
  12. ↑ /oʊˈkwæn/ (e.g. Kevyn Aucoin), /oʊˈkwiːn/, /oʊˈkɔɪn/ (e.g. Bill Aucoin), to /ˈɔːkɔɪn/
  13. ↑ Generally in Virginia
  14. ↑ Variant of Copeland (surname)
  15. ↑ Usually e.g. H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, Granville George Leveson-Gower
  16. ↑ While generally keeping separate vowel sounds at the end (as though with a diaresis), 'er' in Olivier is never pronounced like Oliver
  17. ↑ Scottish, e.g. William Smellie
  18. ↑ Scottish, see Urquhart Castle
References
  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Douglas Martin, James E. Fuchs, Innovator in the Shot-Put, Dies at 82, New York Times, October 18, 2010
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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