# What dialect, the Geico Gecko? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478 "2011-08-29T06:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/1 "2011-08-29T06:59:05Z")
I know the real voice actor is quite the secret. He always reminded me of Ricky Gervaise in accent. Perhaps a Berkshire lizard? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/2 "2011-08-29T07:18:22Z")
They’ve joked in the ads that the gecko’s accent is not identifiable. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2011, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/3 "2011-08-29T10:18:54Z")
There’s no secret about who does the voice. It was Kelsey Grammer for the first commercial, then Dave Kelly for several of them, and now it’s Jake Wood: > **[GEICO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEICO_advertising_campaigns)** > > The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO /ˈɡaɪkoʊ/) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that provides coverage for more than 24 million motor vehicles owned by more than 15 million policy holders as of 2017. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in all 50 U.S. states and the District of... ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/4 "2011-08-29T10:28:15Z")
My mother was born and raised in England. The first time she saw the Geico lizard she asked me why they had a Cockney lizard. So apparently he’s got a Cockney accent (at least according to my mother). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/5 "2011-08-29T11:47:31Z")
I always thought the gecko sounded very much like Michael Caine, who, though not technically a cockney (he is from south rather than east London) basically has a cockney accent. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/6 "2011-08-29T11:50:47Z")
London definitely ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/7 "2011-08-29T12:20:53Z")
I was born in London and raised in Berkshire, if someone gives me a recording to listen to I could probably definitively identify the accent (assuming it’s authentic enoguh). Ricky Gervais has what I would call a “Tilehurst accent”, referring to a large suburb in Reading, Berkshire (Gervais’s hometown), which is really jsut the Reading workign class accent (thoguh largely supplanted by a form of estuary English among people of my generation and onwards). ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/8 "2011-08-29T12:30:36Z")
Listened tothe advert on Youtube, defintely an East London accent. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/9 "2011-08-29T13:27:23Z")
I always thought it silly that the gecko would be British. Geckos are tropical! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/10 "2011-08-29T14:38:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I always thought it silly that the gecko would be British. Geckos are tropical! Are you saying that African Swallows carry geckos to England each spring? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/11 "2011-08-29T14:39:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I always thought it silly that the gecko would be British. Geckos are tropical! There are an awful lot of Londoners who have come from the tropics (Africa, Asia, Caribbean). I mean, you don’t think of talking koalas in London, either, but the streets are full of them. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/12 "2011-08-29T14:43:32Z")
The streets of London are full of talking koalas! Damn! I gotta go. I’ve always wanted a talking koala as my best friend. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/13 "2011-08-29T14:46:22Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Are you saying that African Swallows carry geckos to England each spring? They could grip them by the tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/14 "2011-08-29T15:00:46Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > They could grip them by the tongue. They’d have to, because if you grab a gecko by the tail, it falls off. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/15 "2011-08-29T15:04:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > They’d have to, because if you grab a gecko by the tail, it falls off. And, ironically, he wasn’t insured for that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/16 "2011-08-29T15:19:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The streets of London are full of talking koalas! Damn! I gotta go. I’ve always wanted a talking koala as my best friend. I told him we already have one. Heeheeheeheeheehee. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/17 "2011-08-29T15:27:01Z")
FWIW, Geico is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet’s company. If the Gecko had a Berkshire accent (which I didn’t even know was a thing), it would be pretty clever. Is Berkshire an “east London” accent? I have no idea but I love listening to him talk. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/18 "2011-08-29T16:04:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I always thought it silly that the gecko would be British. Geckos are tropical! American geckos are British, British [meekats are Russian](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKsSOEto3B0). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/19 "2011-08-29T17:06:11Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Is Berkshire an “east London” accent? No. Berkshire is a largely rural county to the west of London. The Gecko does not have a Berkshire accent. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478/20 "2011-08-29T18:52:35Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Are you saying that African Swallows carry geckos to England each spring? Only if they weigh more than a duck, or are made of wood. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dialect-the-geico-gecko/594478.md?page=2)