Unique local pronunciations for place names

[huskeroadgeek]

What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of? These are pronunciations that are different from what may be expected(i.e. different than other places or uses of the same name) or pronunciations of places from foreign languages that don't follow the foreign pronunciation(or sometimes do follow the foreign pronunciation but are often mispronounced). I always find these fascinating and useful if you are traveling in that area because mispronouncing them often makes it easy to label one as an outsider or tourist.

Here are some from my homestate of Nebraska:
Beatrice: be-AT-triss, not BE-uh-triss
Hooper: pronounced with a short "o" as in "book" not a long "o" as in "loop"
Kearney-CAR-nee, not KERR-nee
Prague: rhymes with "Craig"-not pronounced like the capital of the Czech Republic
Steinauer-pronounced like "steener"
Tekamah-te-CAME-uh, not TEE-kuh-muh
Norfolk-often pronounced as if it's spelled "Norfork". This one came about because the city was supposed to be named for the North Fork of the Elkhorn River, but the post office got it wrong and spelled it like Norfolk, Va. Today there is still debate about what the correct pronunciation is-I have had several residents of the city say that either is acceptable, but some people will insist that only "Norfork" is acceptable. Media in the state seem to insist on the "Norfork" pronunciation-personally, I prefer to pronounce it "Norfolk" just like it is spelled.

Some from other states that I know of:
Nevada, Mo.:pronounced "ne-VAY-duh", not like the state is pronounced
Vienna, Mo.:pronounced with a long "i"
Milan, Mo.:MY-luhn, not mil-LAHN
Versailles, Ky.:ver-SALES, not like the French
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French
Buena Vista, Va.-Byoonuh Vista, not like the Spanish
Arkansas City, Ks.-pronounced like the state of Kansas with "Ar" before it, not like the state of Arkansas(I believe the Arkansas River in at least some of Kansas is pronounced the same way).

There are many others I've heard, but these are just some to start with.

[Chris]

Dutch media always screws up the pronunciation of New Orleans. (they pronounce the "orleans" as in "jeans").

How do you pronounce Lafayatte? Is it "la-fa-yett" or more like "la-fa-yett-ee"?

[SP Cook]

Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced "RYE-OH GRAND" not "REE-OH GRAND or REE-OH GRANDE-A" as the Spanish would.

Of course, the more well known Ohio example is Toledo (TOW-LEE-DOH, the one in Spain is TAH-LAY-DOH).

New Madrid, MO is "MAD-RID" rather than "MA-DRID".

Berlin, NH is "BER-LUN", rather than "BER-LYNN", but it is generally accepted that this was changed during WWI.

Philippi, WV is "PHIL-UH-PEE", the one in the Bible is "PHIL-I-PIE".

Ronceverte, WV (which is in Greenbrier County, "Ronceverte" being French for Greenbrier) is pronounced "RONCE-A-VURT".  I will not ever try to phonetic out the French.

[Brandon]

What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

[cu2010]

New Madrid, MO is "MAD-RID" rather than "MA-DRID".

Madrid, NY is the same way. I thought it was just North Country locals who mispronounced everything...

In the same area, Norfolk, NY is pronounced "NOR-FORK", not "NOR-FOLK".

[shoptb1]

Rio Grande, Ohio is pronounced "RYE-OH GRAND" not "REE-OH GRAND or REE-OH GRANDE-A" as the Spanish would.

Yep, and I was told when I moved to Ohio that it's RYE-OH to rhyme with O-HI-O. 

[dfilpus]

In North Carolina, Mebane is pronounced "MEB-bin" and Bahama is pronounced "Bah-HAY-Mah".

[shoptb1]

Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

[usends]

Here's my list for Colorado placenames:
http://usends.com/Explore/Colorado/placenames.html
At the bottom of that page, I'm building a list of links to similar pages for other states, so if you know of any let me know.

[elsmere241]

Here's my list for Colorado placenames:
http://usends.com/Explore/Colorado/placenames.html
At the bottom of that page, I'm building a list of links to similar pages for other states, so if you know of any let me know.

Washington state has a bunch - I can never seem to get any of them right (or so my wife says).

[Roadgeek Adam]

My mother, as a former resident, says everyone called Bethlehem, PA with a silent second H, like BETH-LEM.

Ho-Ho-Kus NJ, it depends on the hyphenation, which is not always constant.

[Brandon]

Dutch media always screws up the pronunciation of New Orleans. (they pronounce the "orleans" as in "jeans").

How do you pronounce Lafayatte? Is it "la-fa-yett" or more like "la-fa-yett-ee"?

la-fay-et
This is the same in Indiana as it is in Louisiana.

New Orleans can be pronounced a couple of acceptable ways.
1. New Or-leans (as in jeans)
2. Nuh Orlans
3. La Nouvelle-Orléans (as in French) :-)

[shoptb1]

New Orleans can be pronounced a couple of acceptable ways.
1. New Or-leans (as in jeans)
2. Nuh Orlans
3. La Nouvelle-Orléans (as in French) :-)

4.  Nawlins

[mgk920]

Wisconsin:

-What is the EASIST and FASTEST way to tell the out-of-staters from the locals?  Ask them to pronounce 'Shawano' (a city and county in the northeastern part of the state).  It is 'SHAW-no', *NOT* 'sha-WA-no'!

-Also, MANY national network sports guys get Green Bay wrong.  It is 'green-bay' (equal light accent emphasis on each word), *NOT* 'GREEN-bay'.

Others:
-Berlin and New Berlin - 'BER-lin' (yep, the WWI thing in those two places, too);
-Menasha - 'muh-NASH-uh' (*NOT* 'mi-NaSH-uh' - long 'A', not a short 'a', in the middle syllable);
-Beloit - same way as in Detroit (city in Michigan), *NOT* the French way;
-Ripon (birthplace of the GOP!  ) - 'RIP-in' (*NOT* 'ri-PON', as in the city in California);
-Wausau - WA-SAW (equal strong accent on both syllables which rhyme with each other, *NO* 'r' sounds).
-Racine - 'ruh-SCENE', *NOT* 'RAY-scene'.

Mike

[US71]

Cairo, IL: KAY-ro

Versailles, IL: ver-SAILS

Mattoon, IL is pronounced either MAT-toon or ma-TOON 

[akotchi]

Other fun ones in Ohio:

Bellefountaine, OH (BELL-FOUNTAIN instead of BELL-UH-FAWN-TAYNE)
Russia, OH (ROO-SEA instead of RUSH-UH)
Versailles, OH (VER-SAILS instead of VAIR-SY)
Lancaster, OH (LANK-UH-STER instead of LAN-CAST-ER)

Lancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

Newark, DE (New-ark) is pronounced differently from its namesake in New Jersey ("Newerk," sometimes one syllable).

Buena, NJ is pronounced "Byoo-na," not like its Florida counterpart.

Dubois, PA is pronounced like "Du-boys."

IIRC, Bogota NJ is pronounced "Ba-GO-ta," not like in Colombia.

[huskeroadgeek]

What are some unique local pronunciations for place names in your area or other places that you know of?
Bourbonnais, Il.:-bur-BONE-us, not like the French

Um, Bourbonnais is pronounced BOTH ways here in Illinois, but the French way is dominant.

Well, all I know is when I visited relatives in Bradley one time, someone laughed at me when I pronounced it the French way and was told that the way I put it here was the correct way.

[corco]

Okey doke

Idaho
Boise- Boy-C (not Boy-zee, this is the easiest way to recognize a non-Idahoan as virtually all say Boy-zee)
Moscow- Mos-coe (not pronounced like the one in Russia- my Mom still pronounces it like the one in Russia after 13 years in Idaho and it drives me crazy every time)
Kooskia- Coo-skee
Kuna- Kewnuh (doesn't rhyme with Tuna)
St. Maries- St Mary's


Washington
Puyallup- Pew-al-up
Tukwila- Tuck-will-uh
Mukilteo- Muck-ull-te-oh
Steilacoom- Stee-luh-coom
Burien- Byur-ee-en
Vashon- Vash on (not Vash en)
Poulsbo- Pauls-bo
Chehalis- Shuh-hay-lus
Sedro-Wooley- See dro- Wooley
Cle Elum- Clee Eelum
Spokane- Spo-can (not Spo-kane)
Naches- Natcheez
Chelan- Chuh-lan (like LAN)
Okanogan- Okanawgun
Anacortes- Anna-cortez


Wyoming
Kemmerer- Kemmer (the second er is silent)
Wamsutter- Wahmsutter
Dubois- Dew-boys

[PAHighways]

Lancaster, PA (my hometown) is pronounced the same way.  Grates at me when I hear Lan-CAST-er.

A friend of mine in college from York would correct me when I'd call it "LANK-as-ter" and say it's pronounced "Lan-CAST-ur."

[PAHighways]

Versailles, IL: ver-SAILS

That is how North and South Versailles is pronounced here; however, thankfully Duquesne is "DOO-cane" and not "DOO-kez-knee."

[agentsteel53]

Boise- Boy-C

meanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable. 

[corco]

meanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable.  

It's pronounced BoyS (hard S), right?

[usends]

meanwhile, the Boise City in the Oklahoma panhandle is one syllable. 

It's pronounced BoyS (hard S), right?

Yeah, but that hard "S" blends in with the "S" sound at the beginning of the word "City", so it comes out like "Boy City".

[KillerTux]

Bowie, MD ..

Not like David Bowie but like naval buoy 

[algorerhythms]

Latrobe, PA ("LAY-trobe", not "lah-TROBE")