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This is a set of lists of English personal and place names having spellings that are counterintuitive to their pronunciation because the spelling does not accord with conventional pronunciation associations. Many of these are degenerations in the pronunciation of names that originated in other languages. Sometimes a well-known namesake with the same spelling has a markedly different pronunciation. These are known as heterophonic names or heterophones (unlike heterographs, which are written differently but pronounced the same).

Excluded are the numerous spellings which fail to make the pronunciation obvious without actually being at odds with convention: for example, the pronunciation /skəˈnɛktədi/ of Schenectady is not immediately obvious, but neither is it counterintuitive.

See Help:IPA/English for guides to the IPA symbols used, and variations depending on dialect.

Place names

Boldened names indicate place names where only one part is pronounced irregularly, italicized pronunciations are uncommon. Exonyms are listed among examples.

General rules

Specific places

This list does not include place names in the United Kingdom or the United States, or places following spelling conventions of non-English languages. For UK place names, see List of irregularly spelled places in the United Kingdom. For US place names, see List of irregularly spelled places in the United States.

This list includes territories of the United Kingdom and the United States not wholly annexed into either country.

Personal names

Bold names are common; so, while not intuitive, they are among the most well-used. Names in italics are names of non-English origin common among English speakers and only irregular in English pronunciation.

Given names

Specific people

General use

Family names

Specific people

General use

See also

• List of irregularly spelt places in the United Kingdom

Notes

1. For towns near the cusp of two dialect regions, both variants are usually heard, and wider still for important cities or even within them. Examples in that article include New York City and Bath
2. Besides Birmingham, Alabama, -ham after ⟨ing⟩ of Buckingham, Cunningham, Rockingham, etc. is usually and typically pronounced /hæm/ in the United States and Canada, but not after ⟨n⟩ or ⟨r⟩ in Burnham and Durham. Additionally, the /hæm/ pronunciation is also found even among Australians in addition to /(h)əm/, especially Rockingham, Western Australia.
3. Examples are East Greenwich, Greenwich townships in Cumberland, Gloucester, and Warren counties, and Greenwich census-designated places in Cumberland and Warren, all in New Jersey; Norwich and Norwich Township, Ontario, Canada; and Norwich, Connecticut.
4. Some English places have the pronunciation /wɪk/ instead: Southwick, West Sussex; Painswick, Gloucestershire; Prestwick and Hardwick, as well as Pickwick, a former village in Wiltshire from which the novel The Pickwick Papers got its title, but these by population represent a very small minority.
5. cf. influential Duke of Albany and Albany, New York
6. French for "Bay of Hope", and paradoxically pronounced "Bay Despair"
7. Canberra as /kænˈbɛrə/ is rare and deprecated
8. Same as the surname.
9. Same as the surname.
10. When spoken in the clipped way, the same as original Scottish surname McKay.
11. Polish-derived pronunciation /kɒˈʃʊʃkoʊ/ is sometimes used for the Australian example.

References

1. "Schenectady". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
2. "Schenectady". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
3. "Agassiz". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
4. "Magaguadavic". Place Names of New Brunswick. Public Archives of New Brunswick. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
5. "Kosciuszko" in Butler, Susan (ed), Macquarie Dictionary (online ed, at 26 November 2020)
6. "Rusagonis". Place Names of New Brunswick. Public Archives of New Brunswick. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
7. "Hermione". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
8. "Penelope". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
9. "Penelope". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020.
10. "Biographies : GENERAL ANDREW P. IOSUE". Af.mil. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
11. ^ Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman. ISBN 0-582-36468-X.
12. Douglas Martin, James E. Fuchs, Innovator in the Shot-Put, Dies at 82, New York Times, 18 October 2010
13. "Voices Against Indifference Initiative". Echofoundation.org. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
14. "The pronunciation of placenames". Macquarie Dictionary. 10 February 2016.
15. Andrew Yanne; Gillis Heller (2009). Signs of a Colonial Era (PDF). Hong Kong University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-962-209-944-9.
16. "Pronunciation Of Surnames". Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
17. "Mclean | Define Mclean at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
18. "NHL pronunciation guide". USA Today. 4 February 2000. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
19. Wells, J. C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 3rd edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2008.
20. "Set VII, texts and comments". Utm.edu. Retrieved 9 October 2012.

Further reading

• Miller, G. M., ed. (1971). BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-431125-2.
• Ordnance Survey of Ireland (1989). Gazetteer of Ireland. Government Publications Office. ISBN 0-7076-0076-6.

• Lists of names
• Lists of place names