# How is the name Aloysius pronounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728 "2001-11-22T05:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Houlihan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Houlihan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Houlihan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/1 "2001-11-22T05:12:42Z")
Is Aloysius pronounced al-oo-ish-us? If not, what is the proper spelling of the name pronounced as al-oo-ish-us? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/2 "2001-11-22T05:15:50Z")
Yes, that is how you pronounce Aloysius. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/3 "2001-11-22T05:16:29Z")
Aloysius is indeed pronounced AL-oh-ISH-iss. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/4 "2001-11-22T05:16:34Z")
Al-oh-wish-us. At least that’s the way Sister Mary Aloysius pronounced it. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/5 "2001-11-22T05:30:11Z")
Wait for Slip Mahoney to respond. He should be the expert. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/6 "2001-11-22T07:06:53Z")
It’s Patrick Ewing’s middle name. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/7 "2001-11-22T07:44:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by straykat23 \* > \*\*Al-oh-wish-us. > > \*\* It was my dad’s middle name…you are correct. straykat23 deserves a gold star from Sister Mary Aloysius. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/8 "2001-11-22T12:11:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*It’s Patrick Ewing’s middle name. \*\* Obscure TV trivia: it was also the middle name of Christopher Hewitt’s lovably rotund butler character on _Mr. Belvedere_ (making the whole thing **Mr. Lynn Aloysius Belvedere** ) ---
**Author:** ![Houlihan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Houlihan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Houlihan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/9 "2001-11-22T13:55:51Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/10 "2001-11-22T16:24:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stuyguy \* > \*\*Wait for Slip Mahoney to respond. He should be the expert. \*\* We don’t have a Horace DeBussy Jones here, do we? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/11 "2001-11-22T19:00:57Z")
It is also the snufalupagus(sp?) first name. But I have heard it as both al-ew-ISH-is and al-oh-ish-us ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/12 "2001-11-22T20:23:58Z")
I fail to see a difference between the way AL-oh-ISH-iss and AL-oh-WISH-us are pronounced. I’ve been saying both of them out loud for the past hour or so, and they sound the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/13 "2001-11-22T21:07:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FireUnderpantsBoobs \* > \*\*I fail to see a difference between the way AL-oh-ISH-iss and AL-oh-WISH-us are pronounced. I’ve been saying both of them out loud for the past hour or so, and they sound the same to me. \*\* A great Thanksgiving activity 😉 Probably better however than watching the stupid Lions lose again. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/14 "2001-11-22T23:29:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FireUnderpantsBoobs \* > \*\*I fail to see a difference between the way AL-oh-ISH-iss and AL-oh-WISH-us are pronounced. I’ve been saying both of them out loud for the past hour or so, and they sound the same to me. \*\* The only difference I can find is that ‘Wish’ makes me bend my mouth more for no noticable difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/15 "2001-11-22T23:52:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*It’s Patrick Ewing’s middle name. \*\* Funny you should mention that, because it ISN’T Tony Hancock’s middle name. Despite the fact that his character created by Galton and Simpson was known as Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, his real name was Anthony John Hancock. Oh… you didn’t ask. Well, now y’know, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/16 "2001-11-23T00:13:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FireUnderpantsBoobs \* > \*\*I fail to see a difference between the way AL-oh-ISH-iss and AL-oh-WISH-us are pronounced. I’ve been saying both of them out loud for the past hour or so, and they sound the same to me. \*\* They are in fact more or less the same. The phoneme “o” in English is, in many dialects, the diphthong [o[sym]u[/sym]], the last part of which is quite close to the vowel [u] (it may sometimes even be [u]) which is itself equivalent to the semivowel [w]. Since in [æloui[sym]ò[/sym]@s] the [u] is found between two vowels (syllable nuclei), it can be interpreted as a diphthong with the first syllable (what you are hearing as “al-oh-ish-us”) or as a glide between the two syllables (“al-oh-wish-us”); or indeed as both, since English permits ambisyllabicity. [/phonobabble] ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/17 "2001-11-23T00:14:57Z")
Sorry, that should be “…a glide in the onset of the second syllable,” not “between the two syllables”. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/18 "2001-11-23T08:52:05Z")
Further confirmation: _In It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ Spencer Tracy’s boss is named Aloysius. He pronounces his name similarly to the OP throughout the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Kaje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kaje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaje)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-the-name-aloysius-pronounced/94728/19 "2001-11-23T20:01:42Z")
The big wooly mamoth type thing on sesame street’s full name: **Aloysius** Snuffleupagus. The first time I heard this, I didn’t know of anybody named Aloysius, but did recall that Hitler’s father’s name was Alois, and presumed this to be the German equivalent of Aloysius, and suspected some sort of evil child-socialization plot underlying the classic show. Once again, the real world failed to stand up to the intrigue of my imagination. Oh well.