On TV I’ve heard the Jor in Joran pronounced yore and yur while the surname has been pronounced and “van der SLOAT”, “van der SLUTE”, and even “van der Slot”. Out of curiosity, which if any is closest to the Dutch pronunciation?
IAN Dutch, but since the language is similar to German I’d say ‘Yor-ahn van der Sloat’.
EDIT: IAN German, either.
“Scumbag.”
I believe Dutch, like German, always treats the double O as a long O in English, so it would be “Sloat.”
Ask Brett Favre how to pronounce it. 
My vote goes with this one. IA Polish, not Dutch, so take it for what that’s worth.
In Afrikaans, at least, the “oo” in “Sloot” is pronounced as the same as the “oo” in English “moor”. Might be a bit different in Dutch, though.
You’re right, but just note that the “a” in “van” is pronounced like the “a” in “car” not like the “a” in “can”.
I am actually Dutch.
Question: would the “S” in Sloot sound more like an “Sh” than an “S”? Or is this just a German thing? (for S followed by a consonant of course, I know the “S-vowel” initial has a “z” sound in German.)
No, the s is not palatalized. Also, speakers of English tend to stress the ‘van’ in Dutch names; but unless the name is spelled as one word (which is what the Flemish do, but which is not typically the case in The Netherlands), ‘van’, ‘der’, etc. are unstressed (which means that many pronounce ‘der’ as ‘duhr’). You stress the Sloot, which, incidentally, translates as irrigation ditch.
I was going to write it ‘vahn’ (similar to ‘car’, as you say), but I didn’t.
Actually, now that I think of it, one set of grandparents had a Dutch name.
“Throatwobbler Mangrove.”
I’d like to pronounce Joran van der Sloot dead.
For $50,000 bucks wired to my PayPal I’ll send you a death certificate and tell you where I may or may not have helped him put Natalie Holloway’s body.
I just ran across the name Desmet (smet means dirt), which got me thinking. How has such names emerged (other names: van de Kerkhof (churchyard), van Beethofen (beet field), etc)?
Appropriately enough, Joran rhymes with urine. At least, that’s how CNN says it.
I associate that name with Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose family lived in De Smet, South Dakota for many years.
De Smet is a very common last name and is related to Smith, etymologically (I think there was a famous fleming missionary who headed west in N.A.-- there’s a De Smet in north ID or MT or something up that way, too). I don’t think Kerkhof’s any stranger than Churchill or Kirkland or Graves. People gotta live in some neighborhood.