Mexico’s famed beach resorts of Cozumel, Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and others are in the state of Quintana Roo. Is the “Roo” pronounced like the “roo” in “kangaroo”? I ask because this sound in Spanish would normally be written “Rú.”
What does “Quintana Roo” mean, anyway (I realize this may be akin to asking "What does “New York” mean, but you get the idea)?
No, in Spanish, two "o"s in a row are pronounced just like that: two "o"s, one after the other. So you use “o” as in “pot”, elongated to take two beats. And remember to rroll the “R”.
(Quintana is pronounced “keen”-“TA”-“nah”)
And Quintana Roo is the compound surname of Andrés Quintana Roo, a Yucatecan-born figure of Mexican history during the independence period.