# How do you pronounce Monticello? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412 "2012-02-10T14:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/41 "2012-02-16T08:43:02Z")
mahn-TEH-chello is how the locals say it. > [@rachelellogram](#): > > Same with “Kay-ro”, “No-dur Daym”, and “Dess Plains” instead of “Kye-ro”, “No-truh Dahm”, and “De Plain” (or however the French pronounce it). Not “Dess Plaines,” but “DEZ Plaines.” You are pronouncing it with the sibilant “S” otherwise common in the Northwest Suburbs. However, that pronunciation could be discussed endlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/42 "2012-02-16T11:35:43Z")
I said _chello_ until around high school or college, when someone ‘corrected’ me. Then someone re-corrected me, and I started pronouncing it “that place Jefferson lived.” ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/43 "2012-02-16T12:02:13Z")
I had no idea what it was, but seeing a word looking like that I’d always go for the “ch” variant. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/44 "2012-02-16T17:01:06Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > I’ve been corrupted a bit, since although I knew it should be pronounced “-chello”, my initial reaction was “-sello”. That’s because Monticello, New York, which isn’t too far from me, is pronounced that way, even though it’s named after the one in Virginia. This for me as well. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/45 "2012-02-16T17:48:16Z")
I pronounce it “Montichello”, though I often hear the nuclear plant of the same name pronounced “Montisello”. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@LaurenBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenBee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/46 "2013-12-11T03:24:16Z")
Hi I’m new! Joined to chime in. Monticello is in fact pronounced like the instrument, monte-chello. I was born and raised in Charlottesville and have also done the tour several times. Nobody knows why Jefferson named his home Monticello, which means little hill in Italian. I do know that he was a huge fan of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio whose Villla Rotonda was somewhat replicated through Jefferson’s buildings. Thomas Jefferson is famous for his inventions/ideas/designs, but none of these are original. He did a lot of traveling in Europe and brought home his favorite things and replicated them in his home and on his campus. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/47 "2013-12-11T03:33:35Z")
♫ _ **The posh panache of Jefferson at Monticello, bustin’ out a mile with style!** _ ♫ [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5uyyXe_HA) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/48 "2013-12-11T05:31:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Since it’s an Italian word, I pronounce it mon-tee-CHEL-oh. Out of curiosity, how do you pronounce the name of the capital of Russia? How about Moscow, Idaho? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/49 "2013-12-11T12:03:42Z")
Fiddle Mountain. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/50 "2013-12-11T13:06:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The Arkansan city is also pronounced that way. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if all but Jefferson’s birthplace were pronounced with English rules, rather than Italian. English has no pronunciation rules. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/51 "2013-12-12T02:24:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > English has no pronunciation rules. Just because the rules are complicated and have many exceptions doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Teaching phonics wouldn’t work, otherwise. If there weren’t any such rules, concepts like Anglicization (of pronunciations) wouldn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Cerealbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Cerealbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerealbox)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/52 "2013-12-12T02:37:18Z")
I pronounce it the [correct](http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/origin-name-monticello) way. ---
**Author:** ![Beelzebubba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Beelzebubba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beelzebubba)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412/53 "2013-12-12T19:47:34Z")
The proper pronunciation is Monti-chello with one exception. The town of Monticello, Georgia, hometown of country singer Trisha Yearwood, is pronounced Monti-sello. Georgia towns are often the exception to rules of pronunciation. Just by the spelling, the town of Cairo, Georgia would appear to sound just like the Cairo, Egypt…but instead it sounds like “Karo” as in Karo Syrup. Then there’s Vidalia, Georgia, home of the world-famous sweet onion, that’s pronounced “Vi-day-a”. Or Albany, Georgia, which locals insist on saying as “Al-benny”. But the oddest one of all is the small and sparsely populated Taliaferro County in rural South-Central Georgia. It is pronounced as “Tolliver”…… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-monticello/612412.md?page=2)