Is the city of Cleburne, Texas, pronounced CLEE-burn or CLAY-burn?
The city’s official website is no help.
It’s CLEE-burn.
Thanks for the quick reply, Tex. We’re in the middle of a law class, reading the case City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, and nobody was sure how to pronounce it.
In case a corroborating opinion is needed, I agree with Tully. (I grew up in Dallas/Fort Worth.)
Yep, it’s said Clee-burn.
Yep, many a family reunion there… ‘Clee-burn.’ Heh, didn’t ever think I’d see that town mentioned here.
Heh…Con Law, right? I tutored Con Law.
As long as were doing case name pronunciations…if you haven’t already, you’ll probably come across Helicópteros Nacionales De Colombia v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408 (1984) in Civ Pro. Everyone pronounces it “heli-cop-TER-os,” but it isn’t pronounced that way. It’s pronounced “heli-COP-teros.” If your professor is saying it wrong, make sure you raise your hand and let them know the correct pronunciation. 
Fortunately for both of us, my Civil Procedure professor pronounced Helicópteros properly. There was a Peruvian woman in the class ready to correct him if he didn’t.
While we’re on the subject of Texas and pronounciation, that street in Austin spelled Manchaca is pronounced MAN-shack. Guadalupe is pronounced GUA-da-loop, and the town of Burnet is pronounced BURN-it.
And my friend worked in IN-surance, not in-SUR-ance like folks in 'Braskie.
Yeah, I don’t know either.
Pretty good (the town is still Gua-da-LOO-pe, strangely). Can you do “Mexia,” “Bexar,” and “Comal?”
Which brings to mind this list that gets posted in copier rooms around the state a lot:
“You might be a Texan if…You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Palestine, Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Burnet, Boerne, Mexia, Waco, Amarillo, and Waxahachie.”
This one’s probably about 50-50.
ETA: ooh, here’s a good one: “Balmorhea.”
Bexar I know is “bear”. I assume Mexia is Meh-HEE-ah. I always said co-MALL. The standard Spanish pronounciations? (But as the Manchaca example serves, that don’t mean diddly in The Great State of Texas!)
I like Wocks-ah-HATCH-ee. It means I’m almost to Dallas (if I remember correctly) and soon the hell that is I-35 between Austin and Dallas is almost over! Boerne (“burn”) makes me think of beer???
Close…
It’s pronounced “Burn-e” (long e)
Nobody says the “Christi” part of Corpus Christi either…
I’ve always heard Bexar as “BAY-er” with less empashis on the “y” than the aspirin name.
And Mexia is meh-HAY-ah.
Just more evidence of Texas’s Very Special Nature. 
The town of Beatrice, NE is pronounced bee-AT-trice by everyone here.
Yes on Bexar. I’ve hear Mexia pronounced meh-HAY-ya.
If you talk to one of the locals with a broad accent, it will sound somewhere between CLEE and CLAY.
OTOH, so will “free” and “tea”
Some little towns in the panhandle have different pronunciations than you might imagine.
Miami. Not pronounced like the one in Florida.
Dumas. Not the same as Alexandre.
Lefors. Give it a whirl.
Pampa. Not the same as the grass plains of Argentina it was named for.
Aaahhhh, now I get it. Yes, to some Zyada is right. When we pronounce it KLEE (to our ears) it might sound a little like CLAY to someone not familiar with the accent, but to Texans it sounds like KLEE.
Like the northerner who had heard the term “fade barn” yet couldn’t find a definition of it anywhere… until he asked a Texan what a fade barn was. Obviously, said the Texan, it was where you keep your ‘fade’ (feed).