List of names in English with non-intuitive pronunciations
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This is a list of personal and place names that are pronounced in a way not easily deducible from the spelling or in a way at variance with a better known name of the same spelling.
See International Phonetic Alphabet for English and IPA chart for English for guides to the IPA symbols used.
| Contents: | top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
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A
B
- Berlin, Connecticut and Berlin, New Hampshire — (stress on first syllable) Template:Audio
- Buccleuch —
C
- Cairo, Illinois and Cairo, Ohio — Template:Audio
- Caius (as in Caius College, Cambridge) —
- Calais, Maine Template:Audio (The town of Calais in France was formerly also pronounced in English; today , with initial stress in British English and final stress in American English, is the normal pronunciation.)
- Cholmondeley —
- Cirencester, now usually spelling pronunciation , but formerly and occasionally still pronounced *
- Cockburn —
- Cosham, Hampshire —
- Costessey, Norfolk —
D
- Dalziel (as in the UK television series Dalziel and Pascoe) — or
- Des Moines, Iowa —
E
- Edinburgh, Scotland —
- El Dorado, Kansas and Eldorado, Illinois — Template:Audio
- Etobicoke, Ontario —
F
G
- Gloucester (English city and Massachusetts city), both (RP and Boston accent) or (General American)
- Greenwich, Connecticut and Greenwich Village in New York City —
- Greenwich, Greater London — or
H
I
- Illinois —
- Islay (island of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland) —
K
- Keighley, West Yorkshire) —
- Kingussie, Scotland —
- Kiribati (island nation in Pacific Ocean) — (spelling is regular in Gilbertese)
- Kirkby, Merseyside —
- Kirkcudbright, Scotland —
L
- La Plata, Maryland — Template:Audio
- Leicester, England and Leicester, Massachusetts —
- Leominster, Herefordshire — . Compare Leominster, Massachusetts which is more intuitively pronounced
- Lympne, Kent —
M
- Mackinac Island, Michigan —
- Magdalen(e) (as in Magdalen College, Oxford and Magdalene College, Cambridge) —
- Manchaca, Texas —
- Marjoribanks —
- Menzies (as in Menzies Campbell) —
- Mexia, Texas — Template:Audio
- Miami, Oklahoma —
- Milan, Indiana and Milan, New Hampshire — Template:Audio
- Mousehole, Cornwall —
- Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire —
N
- Naas, County Kildare, Ireland —
- Natchitoches, Louisiana —
- Neagh, Lough in Northern Ireland —
- Nevada, Iowa — Template:Audio
P
R
S
- San Jose, Illinois — Template:Audio
- Sean (first name) — (spelling Seán is regular in Irish)
- Siobhan (first name) — or (spelling Siobhán is regular in Irish)
- Sioux (e.g. Sioux Falls, South Dakota) —
- Slough, Berkshire —
- Southwark, Greater London —
- Southwell, Nottinghamshire — (the more intuitive is also used locally)
- Spokane, Washington —
- Strachan — (although English TV presenters pronounce the name of new Celtic F.C. manager Gordon Strachan as )
T
- Tal(l)iaferro (American place & family names) —
- Thames (river in England), Thames River in Ontario, and Thames River and eponymous town and firth in New Zealand — (the Thames River in Connecticut is pronounced )
- Torpenhow, Cumbria — (locally) or (non-locally)*
- Towcester, Northamptonshire —
U
V
W
- Warwick, UK —
- Woolfardisworthy — or
- Worcester, England and Worcester, Massachusetts, both pronounced . Compare Wooster, Ohio
- Wymondham, Norfolk — (locally) or (non-locally) *
Y
References
Pronunciations marked with * are from:
See also
- English spelling
- List of words of disputed pronunciation (includes names like Melbourne that are pronounced differently in different locations)