# Pronunciation of name "Koch" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422 "2015-01-31T13:06:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/1 "2015-01-31T13:06:31Z")
I’ve been confused about this. Does the last name “Koch” have all these possible pronunciations?: Coke Cotch Cock Cook ??? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/2 "2015-01-31T13:18:14Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > I’ve been confused about this. > > Does the last name “Koch” have all these possible pronunciations?: > > Coke > Cotch > Cock > Cook > > ??? And the German one, which is like “ko[kh]” with the [kh] representing an “h” like sound, like the “h” in “loch.” ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/3 "2015-01-31T13:20:07Z")
If we’re talking about the billionnaires, the underwriting announcements on PBS pronounced the name as “Coke”. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/4 "2015-01-31T14:14:43Z")
Have a coworker who was de-cock in South Africa but de-cotch when he was in the US. Spelled “de Koch” of course. He was ridiculously popular with the ladies, some of whom refused to use his preferred stateside pronunciation. I suspect it is issues like these that cause the pronunciation variations outside the Duetchesphere. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/5 "2015-01-31T14:45:12Z")
The Koch I worked for preferred “Cook”. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/6 "2015-01-31T15:10:23Z")
They have a refinery near my old home. It’s always pronounced “Coke” hereabouts. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/7 "2015-01-31T15:24:29Z")
And, of course, the former NY Mayor, Ed Koch, was pronounced “Cotch.” So, yes, “Koch” has all those pronunciations, plus at least the German one. As to how you know which way to pronounce it when you see it? You don’t really. You have to ask what the pronunciation is. And, sometimes, even then it’s not the same as the family pronunciation. AFAIK, Dick Cheney and his family pronounce his name “ChEE-nee,” but the media pronounces it “CHAY-nee,” for example. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/8 "2015-01-31T15:27:05Z")
The one I knew pronounced it like “coach.” There are other German last names that also have multiple pronunciations in the U.S. My mother’s maiden name is “Roth”. Nearly everyone else in the U.S. pronounces it with a short “o”, but her family pronounces it with a long “o”. I was going to say that nobody other than her family pronounces it that way, but I just did a search on the phrase "Roth pronounced with a long ", and I found this article, which isn’t (as far as I know) about a close relative of mine: [http://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/salina/salina-journal/1982/04-18/page-2](http://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/salina/salina-journal/1982/04-18/page-2) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/9 "2015-01-31T15:30:13Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > If we’re talking about the billionnaires, the underwriting announcements on PBS pronounced the name as “Coke”. A handy way to remember this that somebody posted here once: “I’d like to buy the world.” - A Koch ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/10 "2015-01-31T15:31:20Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The one I knew pronounced it like “coach.” > > There are other German last names that also have multiple pronunciations in the U.S. My mother’s maiden name is “Roth”. Nearly everyone else in the U.S. pronounces it with a short “o”, but her family pronounces it with a long “o”. I was going to say that nobody other than her family pronounces it that way, but I just did a search on the phrase "Roth pronounced with a long ", and I found this article, which isn’t (as far as I know) about a close relative of mine: > > [Salina Journal Newspaper Archives, Apr 18, 1982, p. 2](http://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/salina/salina-journal/1982/04-18/page-2) That makes some sense, as in the German, it would be pronounced something like “rote.” Same happens with the Hungarian surname “Tóth/Toth” It’s pretty much “tote” in Hungarian, but in English, it can be pronounced to rhyme with “both” or “boat,” depending on how insistent the family is about preserving the original pronunciation as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/11 "2015-01-31T16:21:47Z")
My physics teacher, Mr. Koch, pronounced his last name as Cotch, as to rhyme with scotch. He was actually from Germany, but came to the US at age five.\* - When he mentioned this we asked him if he still remembered how to speak any German, and he said yes, rattling off a sentence. Most impressed, we asked what it meant. He turned pink and admitted he’d just said “I’d like some chocolate milk” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/12 "2015-01-31T17:54:18Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > The Koch I worked for preferred “Cook”. The “cook” pronunciation also has the charm that it provides a literal translation of the word’s meaning in German, but I guess this is of only secondary concern to most Kochs. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/13 "2015-01-31T18:02:01Z")
My father worked for an oil company in the 1920’s and 30’s owned by the Koch family. I always heard him pronounce it “Coke”. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/14 "2015-01-31T18:34:56Z")
If TPTB will forgive a minor tangent, I was stationed on an island where the big town was named “Cockburn”, which always struck me as a good name for a place where you’d want to be VERY careful about contracting an STD. They pronounced it “Coh-burn” ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/15 "2015-01-31T18:36:58Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > The Koch I worked for preferred “Cook”. Customers will ask for “Cotch” I correct them, He spells it that way, but he says “Cook.” ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/16 "2015-01-31T20:35:05Z")
The owner of Holiday World amusement park pronounces it “Cook”. The former mayor of New York pronounced it “Cotch”. I like the first for lots and lots of reasons. Just in case RavenMaven ever reads the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/17 "2015-01-31T23:28:31Z")
Guh-doff-ee. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/18 "2015-02-01T05:36:48Z")
I had a friend who pronounced it (her last name) as Kah. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/19 "2015-02-01T05:44:40Z")
> **[David Koch (television presenter)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koch_%28television_presenter%29)** > > David James Koch (/ˈkɒʃ/ KOSH; born 7 March 1956), nicknamed "Kochie" (/ˈkɒʃi/ KOSH-ee), is an Australian television presenter who is best known as a host of the Seven Network's breakfast program, Sunrise. From Adelaide, he began his media career as a financial journalist, writing for a number of different publications before eventually moving to television. Koch has been the chairman of the Port Adelaide Football Club, an Australian Football League (AFL) club, since October 2012. > Koch was bo... Cosh. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422/20 "2015-02-01T05:56:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > They have a refinery near my old home. It’s always pronounced “Coke” hereabouts. Your location says Milky Way Galaxy. Where was your old home? 😃 Another statistic for “Cook”: Kid in my Junior High (1963-1966) class was Koch and pronounced it Cook. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-name-koch/711422.md?page=2)