I’m suprised this thread got so far without mentioning Brett Favre - who insists his name is pronounced “Farve”
Here in town, we have a Duquesne Street. Which is pronouced exactly as it’s written. No du-Kain here.
You’re late, too. 
I’m not that suprised that you didn’t read the whole thread.
Look again.
Is it a Hungarian name?
Actually, the “r” sound as found in standard American English is pretty much a vowel sound, or, at least, more like a vowel than a consonant, and it’s officially recognized as such in Serbo-Croatian.
Actually you can sign whatever you want. So long as you’re not trying to commit fraud, you can use anything you want in your signature – symbols, “Mickey Mouse,” whatever; it’s all legal. My wife’s signature comprises a total of four letters, one of which appears nowhere in her 13-letter name.
I’m from Ohio too and I’ve always heard it with four syllables. Maybe Hynde is trying to make it fit the meter. Or maybe when speaking fast one of the syllables gets slurred away. I’m pretty sure all the newscasters in the Cleveland area say “cuy-a-HO-ga.”
I once met someone whose name was “Beaulieu,” which I would have pronounced “bowl-yeuh,” but he pronounced “boo-YAY.”
In Standard American English, **penchant **rhymes with trenchant; the French-sounding pronunciation is acceptable but more common in British English.
Yes, I did mean the river. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the town name pronounced. I’m from southern Ohio, so I’m no expert anyway, but most of my college friends were from Cleveland and they introduced me to this issue in the first place.
I thought it was the case in the name of the county too, that’s why I asked.
Wooster
“It’s FRONK-en-steen!”
I’ve heard that the English family name “Featherstonehough” is pronounced “Fuff”.
I’ve also heard that the word “nuclear” may correctly be pronounced “nucular” and am horrified to remark that IIRC one dictionary cites President Jimmy Carter (a PhD in nuclear physics, no less) as one of the usage references. See elsewhere on SDMB for “nucular” mispronunciation threads.
I think we’ll have to ask for a cite on that.
The village of Beaulieu on the south coast of England (home to the National Motor Museum) is pronounced “BYOO-Lee”. Confused the heck out of a French exchange student we had to stay, when we visited.
Lots of English places with French-influenced names have mangled pronunciations, e.g Shepton Beauchamp = “Shepton Beecham”, Congresbury = “Cooms-bree”, and Kingston Bagpuize (a favourite with fans of British children’s TV) is “Kingston Bagpews”).
I thought it was “Fanshaw.”
Anyone?
True.
(I think. It’s either that or ‘Fenshaw’)
Or Festonhay (which was the one I was trying to think of) or something else, as commasense noted.
Incidentally, phonetic spellings don’t always help.
I rented a cottage up in Scotland a few months back that went by the name of “Colquhoune’s Byre” (see here - highly recommended 
).
I knew Colquhone = “Cuhoon”, or so I thought, so when I went to pick up the key’s from the owner in the next village I used that pronunciation and the woman said: “Ach, you mean HhcchhuuhhQHoouuwwwnnn’s…” or something :rolleyes:
I didn’t try to copy that.
Good lord, never! If you aren’t a native speaker a major backwoods Highland accent has been known to cause strong men to swallow their tongues trying to extract the last juicy bit of CHHHHHHH!
Wasn’t Cholmeley the walrus sidekick of Thiennessy Tuchsydeaux?
Houston Street in Manhattan is HOUSE-ton.
I’m always amused by a sportscaster on ESPN called Berthiaume, who pronounces his name burr-THYOOM, when the correct pronunciation is ber-TYOAM’
In the maritimes, the name Paquette gets anglicized to Pocket, instead of Pah-kett.
More useless Ohio town name pronunciation info…
Berlin used to be pronounced like the city in Germany, until World War I.
There’s a town in Ohio named Louisville, which is actually pronounced Louis-ville, as opposed to the city in Kentucky.
The town of Bellefontaine is pronounced Bell-fountain.
Lancaster - Lan-caster is in PA, Lanc-aster is in OH.
Living most of my life about an hour south of Cuyahoga Falls, and watching Akron and Cleveland television stations, the only place I’ve ever heard “Cahoga” was in the Pretenders song. Maybe the locals say “Cahoga”, but the only Cuyahoga Falls locals I’ve talked much to were at the Blossom Music Center, and the alcohol made them somewhat incoherent anyway.
Having moved to Columbus, there is a Morse Road. It’s pronounced “Morris” by at least half of the city (mostly the half that has lived here all their lives). This one drives me crazy.
Anyone want to take a stab at pronouncing Gnadenhutten or Schoenbrun?
in london on, there is a lake & park (and a road) called fanshawe, but pronounced featherstonehaugh
:dubious:
after 1916, the ontario pronunciation of “berlin” became kitchener.
and sorry for the double post, i clicky too quicky.