Many Britons will see where I'm headed with this post, but outside of the UK, few will be able to even guess. It has everything to do with pronunciation, you see. It's not that the British are unique in this respect, but we do have some odd-looking names, with even odder-sounding (known as counterintuitive) pronunciations! That applies to both people and place names...
Let's start with the two examples in the post title, both of which are surnames, although Cholmondeley is also a town in Cheshire.
Cholmondeley is pronounced "Chumley".
Mainwaring is pronounced "Mannering". A well-known name in Britain, thanks to the character of Captain Mainwaring in the TV comedy series, Dad's Army.
Other surnames (name - "pronunciation") include :
Beauchamp - "Beecham"
Cockburn - "Coburn"
Dalziel - "De-yell"
Featherstonhaugh - "Fanshaw"
Pepys - "Peeps"
St. John - usually pronounced "Sinjun"
Strachan - sometimes pronounced "Strawn"
Place Names (not a complete list)
Alnwick (Northumberland) - "Annick"
Beaulieu (Hampshire) - "Bewley"
Chiswick (London) - "Chizzick"
Hawick (Borders) - "Hoyk"
Keswick (Cumbria)- "Kezzick"
Leominster (Herefordshire) - "Lemster"
Lympne (Kent) - "Lim"
Towcester (Northamptonshire) - "Toaster"
Warwick (Warwickshire) - "Worrick"
Wrotham (Kent) - "Rootem"
Also Hautbois (Norfolk) - "Hobis"
ReplyDeleteWymondham (Norfolk) - "Windam"
Happisburgh (Norfolk) - "Hazebruh"
My fave is Trottiscliffe (Kent) pronounced Trozli
ReplyDeleteWoolfordisworthy is pronounced woolsery Devon
ReplyDeleteMany Yorkshire place names could feature in this article, but a favourite has always been close to where I was born - Slaithwaite pronounced Slough-it.
ReplyDelete