How do you pronounce these city names?

[cl94]

Newark: NEWirk
Newark, Ohio: NERKah HIya

For Newark, NJ, it's New-irk.
For Newark, DE, it's New-Arc

I think Newark, NY uses the DE pronunciation. And every person I knew in Ohio called the city there "Nerk"

[cu2010]

Newark: NEWirk
Newark, Ohio: NERKah HIya

For Newark, NJ, it's New-irk.
For Newark, DE, it's New-Arc

I think Newark, NY uses the DE pronunciation. And every person I knew in Ohio called the city there "Nerk"

As someone who's lived in Newark, NY, it does not. It uses the NJ pronunciation.

[cl94]

Newark: NEWirk
Newark, Ohio: NERKah HIya

For Newark, NJ, it's New-irk.
For Newark, DE, it's New-Arc

I think Newark, NY uses the DE pronunciation. And every person I knew in Ohio called the city there "Nerk"

As someone who's lived in Newark, NY, it does not. It uses the NJ pronunciation.

Wow. A town in that part of the state pronounced properly. I'm genuinely shocked.

[SSOWorld]

Shawano - SHAW no (2nd "a" is not pronounced)

Funny we had a discussion about that "under the bridge" on Saturday

More WI:
Waukesha - Wok-eh-shaw (don't ever say Wau-kee-shaw)
Vilas (County) - Vi-lus

ILL:
Des Plaines - The "s" is not silent in either word

IA:
Des Moines - De-Moine - the "s" IS silent in both words
Dubuque - De-buke

MI: Sorry Brandon - but I thought it was Dey-twa.

[JMoses24]

In my area, there are two that I've heard a couple different ways.

Vevay, Indiana: Vee-vee, or vee-vay?
Sabina, Ohio: Suh-bye-nuh or Suh-beana?

In both cases, the first is the one heard most often.

[andrewkbrown]

In my area, there are two that I've heard a couple different ways.

Vevay, Indiana: Vee-vee, or vee-vay?
Sabina, Ohio: Suh-bye-nuh or Suh-beana?

In both cases, the first is the one heard most often.

Having lived the first 23 years of my life 10 miles from Sabina, Ohio in Wilmington, the first one is correct. I've only heard Suh-beena said by a meteorologist from a Cincinnati TV station.

Also, Xenia, Ohio is pronounced Zeen-ya, unless you're a Washington DC fire/police dispatcher. A certain dispatcher will dispatch runs to Xenia Street SE as ex-en-eeya street. 

[hbelkins]

The Indiana town referenced above, to my knowledge, is pronounced like one might pronounce Missouri secondary route VV.

[US71]

Cairo, IL is pronounced KAY-ro

[golden eagle]

What's the proper of pronouncing Terre Haute?

[jp the roadgeek]

In CT:

Southington: SUTH-ing-tin
Cheshire: CHESH-err
Avon: A-von
Hebron: HEE-bron
Lebanon: LEB-a-non
Groton: GRAH-tin
Meriden: MARE-a-din
Haddam: HAD-em
Durham: DUR-em
Naugatuck: NAW-ga-tuck
Ansonia: an-SEWN-e-uh
Tolland: TAHL-lind
Windham: WIND-em
Coventry: CAH-ven-tree
Colchester: COAL-ches-ter
Bozrah: BAH-zruh
Anything two word town beginning with New or Old: Emphasis placed on first syllable of second word (new HAV-in, new BRIT-in, old SAY-brook)
Anything with a cardinal direction: Equal emphasis on both words (EAST HART-ford, WEST HAv-in, EAST LYME)

[JakeFromNewEngland]

In CT:

Southington: SUTH-ing-tin
Cheshire: CHESH-err
Avon: A-von
Hebron: HEE-bron
Lebanon: LEB-a-non
Groton: GRAH-tin
Meriden: MARE-a-din
Haddam: HAD-em
Durham: DUR-em
Naugatuck: NAW-ga-tuck
Ansonia: an-SEWN-e-uh
Tolland: TAHL-lind
Windham: WIND-em
Coventry: CAH-ven-tree
Colchester: COAL-ches-ter
Bozrah: BAH-zruh
Anything two word town beginning with New or Old: Emphasis placed on first syllable of second word (new HAV-in, new BRIT-in, old SAY-brook)
Anything with a cardinal direction: Equal emphasis on both words (EAST HART-ford, WEST HAv-in, EAST LYME)

I pronounce these towns the same way. Must be our Connecticut dialects. 

Here are some other towns:

Cannan: Cane-in
Darien: Dare-e-ann
Seymour: Sea-more
Thomaston: Tom-us-tin
Wallingford: Wall-en-ford
Wolcott: Wool-cot

Those are just some names I think could be pronounced differently.

[Henry]

Nevada, IA is pronounced "Ne-VAY-duh," distinct from the state. (by the way, how do you pronounce the state name? I've always used an "a" as in "cat" for the second syllable, even though I know the original Spanish is "a" as in "father")

Nevada should always be pronounced with an "a" as in "cat." Same with Colorado. No one from those states say the latter, so the former should be the standard nationwide... Might as well say "mohn-TAH-na" (Montana) or "TAY-hass" (Texas) if you want to be true to the Spanish pronunciations... Oregon should be pronounced "OR-i-gin," too.

Then maybe we should add "Ah-ree-zo-nah" for AZ, "Cah-lee-for-nee-yah" for CA and "Nwayvo May-he-co" for NM.

[vtk]

And every person I knew in Ohio called the city there "Nerk"

In Columbus we say NEW irk.  Then if there's a lull in the conversation we laugh and mockingly say NERKah HIyah.  Or maybe that's just my family.  (There's some self-mocking too: "I got me a Hillard edjumacation!"  My high school's first yearbook actually said HILLARD on the spine instead of HILLIARD.  While we're on that subject: HILL yurd.)

What's the proper of pronouncing Terre Haute?

I always thought it was terra HOTE, I could be wrong.

[cl94]

And every person I knew in Ohio called the city there "Nerk"

In Columbus we say NEW irk.  Then if there's a lull in the conversation we laugh and mockingly say NERKah HIyah.  Or maybe that's just my family.  (There's some self-mocking too: "I got me a Hillard edjumacation!"  My high school's first yearbook actually said HILLARD on the spine instead of HILLIARD.  While we're on that subject: HILL yurd.)

I've actually heard people use that pronunciation in a serious manner. Maybe it was just the eastern suburbs.

[Brandon]

What's the proper of pronouncing Terre Haute?

Tear-eh Halt.

[Bruce]

The Native American / Aboriginal names are quite rampant in the PNW

That is definitely true. Lushootseed gives us plenty of interesting placenames that help weed out the locals from the local-borns. Some more examples, from the Unofficial Seattle-Area Pronunciation Guide on Reddit, with its uses added:

• Alki: AL-kai - A Chinook Jargon saying meaning "by and by" or "eventually", adopted as the state motto; also a neighborhood in West Seattle where the original Denny party landed, establishing the settlement of "New York Alki" in 1851.
• Anacortes: ann-a-COR-tiss - A city in Skagit County, home to several oil refineries and the terminus of the San Juan Islands ferry (SR 20 Spur)
• Chelan*: sha-LAN - A long lake, a city on the south end of said lake, a river fed by the lake, all in a county named for the lake.
• Duwamish: doo-WAH-mish - A dirty industrial river in Seattle
• Issaquah*: ISS-uh-kwah - An exurb of Seattle located on the way to Snoqualmie Pass, also headquarters of Costco
• Kitsap*: KIT-sap - A peninsula and county on the west side of the Puget Sound
• Leschi: LESH-eye - A neighborhood of Seattle, at the entrance of the Mount Baker/I-90 Tunnel; named for a Nisqually tribal chief hung for a murder he didn't commit, having been exonerated in 2004 (146 years after the fact)
• Mukilteo: muk-ull-TEE-oh - Ferry terminal on SR 525, rich suburb near the world's largest building (Boeing's Everett assembly plant), commuter rail stop
• Salish*: SAY-lish - The name of all inland saltwater separated from the open Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, including the Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Strait of Georgia; also used to describe the entirety of Native American/First Nation peoples living in the coastal Pacific Northwest
• Sammamish: suh-MAM-ish - The outermost of the two long lakes on the Seattle Eastside, also a river connecting said lake to Lake Washington
• Skagit: SKA-jit (as mispronounced many times as "ska-get" by TV news between May 23, 2013 and June 8, 2013) - A county and a river, both located just north of the Seattle metro area
• Seattle: see-AD-ull OR see-AT-ull - The largest city in the Pacific Northwest, named for Chief Sealth
• Snoqualmie: sno-KWAL-mee - A mountain pass on I-90, or a somewhat-nearby river and town, or the waterfall from Twin Peaks
• Snohomish: sno-HOE-mish - One of the three counties in the Seattle metro area, also a major river within said county, and the former county seat-turned-suburb
• Spokane*: spoh-KAN - The second largest city and metro area in Washington state; from the Spokane tribe meaning "people of the sun"
• Tacoma*: tuh-COE-muh - The second largest city in the Seattle metro area; from the word for Mount Rainier, "Tahoma"
• Walla Walla*: WAHL-uh WAHL-uh - A large county and its county seat in the Blue Mountains of Southeastern Washington
• Wahkiakum: wuh-KAI-uh-kum - The smallest county in Washington (in both area and population), on the Columbia River in Southwest Washington
• Wenatchee*: wen-NAT-chee - A large city in Central Washington in the middle of the nation's largest apple orchards
• Yakima*: YAK-uh-mah - A county, Indian reservation, city, military reservation, river, and canyon in Central Washington

Note: I removed names mentioned in previous posts and other names because they weren't significant enough; a * denotes a named used on an active vessel in the Washington State Ferries fleet

I'll be back with names for all the Washington State Ferries, eventually.

[wxfree]

Here are some in Texas:

Nevada: nuh VAY duh
Eldorado: el dur AY duh
Alvarado: al vuh RAY doh
Salado: suh LAY doh
Leakey: LAY kee
Clarendon: cluh REN dun
San Angelo: ANN jel oh
New Braunfels: (as mispronounced by outsiders) noo BRONZ fulz or noo BRONZ ful
Marathon: MARE uh thin
Mexia: muh HAY uh (there are different ways; that's the one I've always heard)
Joshua: josh uh WAY (mainly old timers, dying off)
McLean: mic LAYN
Tarzan: TAR zin
Study Butte: STOO dee byoot
Gruene: GREEN
Balmorhea: BAL muh ray
Boerne: BUR nee
Montague: MON tayg
Quitaque: KIT uh kwuh or KIT uh kway (I don't know which but have heard both)
Menard: muh NAHRD
Iraan: IRA ann
Italy: IT lee
Mertens: muhr TENZ
Austin: (according to many Texans) noo SOD uhm

In Oklahoma:

Chickasha: CHIK uh shay
Poteau: POH toh

[empirestate]

A topic I'm always interested in, and how I wish there were an easy way to look this up on the internet! For some reason, a professionally-compiled pronouncing gazetteer is still a thing of great cost.

It would help if we had an agreed-upon means of phonetically spelling our pronunciations; I feel that in many cases, even though we've spelled it out, we still wouldn't pronounce what we see that same way as each other! (Oh, and don't forget to indicate EMphasis!)

New Yawk if you are a native Brooklyn resident for New York.

I've never actually heard this pronunciation (except perhaps by Bostonians); my suspicion is that it was originally invented by Manhattanites who wish to display their superior worldliness to outsiders.

Pikeville.  PIKEVUL.  One syllable.

I'm having the damnedest time figuring out how to make "PIKEVUL" come out as one syllable. I'd have to drop two of the three vowels...

Lancaster: LANK-is-ter (not LAN-cas-ter)

Yes indeed; it rhymes most closely with "prankster". I once heard somebody say, "Oh yeah, I've spent time in Lang Caster," to which I responded with some snarky remark like, "Obviously not very much!"

New York has more than I could ever mention:

Hauppauge: Happ-aig, "aig" similar to "aid"

I've never heard this one locally, I've only heard "HOP-ogg". However, I have definitely heard Copiague: "COPE-aig". (Note the difference in the order of "u" and "e".)

Wantagh: Won-taw

I usually hear the "g" in this: "WON-togg".

Chili: Cheye-lye

Right; it's hard to decipher when spelled phonetically. It rhymes with "fly-by" or, approximately, "jai alai".

Bergen: Burr-gin

Yes again; note that's a soft "g" in "gin", like the liquor. This is as opposed to "BURR-ghin" County, NJ, which has a hard "g". (What is it in Norway?)

Steuben (county): Stew-bahn (even though it's named after the general who pronounced his name "stew-ben" as one would expect)

OK, I've most certainly never heard that pronunciation! I've only heard "stew-BEN". Also, that general, being Prussian, very likely pronounced his name more like "SHTOY-bin". :-)

And many more small towns (plus the aforementioned Schenectady).

Such as:
Rossie: "raw-SEE"
Heuvelton: "HEW-vul-tin"
Theresa: "thu-REE-sa", meaning it sounds like it looks, unlike the girl's name which is usually "ter-EE-sa". (And it's a soft "th" like in "third", not a hard one like "the".)
Massena: "muh-SEE-na"

And one from Washington I've always wondered about: "Cle Elum"??

[jakeroot]

And one from Washington I've always wondered about: "Cle Elum"??

CLEE-elum

[briantroutman]

Anyone from the Pacific NW: The Dalles (OR)–is it just "the DAY-ulls" ?

[agentsteel53]

Anyone from the Pacific NW: The Dalles (OR)–is it just "the DAY-ulls" ?

I've heard it to have the same syllable as Dallas, the city in Texas. 

(source: gas station attendant in Maupin, OR.)

[cl94]

Some more from New York:

Canajoharie: Can-a-joe-hairy
Patchogue: Patch-ogg (rhymes with nog)
Niskayuna: Niss-kay-oo-na
Cobleskill: Coe-bulls-kill
Ilion: Ill-ee-in
Avon: A-von, "A" as in "hat"
Speonk: Spee-onk
Java: Jay-va (expected pronunciation is also pretty common)
Skaneateles: Skuh-nea-tulls

In Toronto:
Yonge Street: Pronounced "young"


Downstate pronunciations come from family on the Island, upstate are from family and observation. I know Steuben County's pronunciation from being corrected by several gas station attendants, cashiers, waiters, etc. while in the county.

[Zeffy]

Somerville - Suh-mer-vill
Barnegat - Bar-neh-get
Shamong - Sha-mawng
Vineland - Vine-lind
Asbury Park - Az-berry-(space)-park

(FYI, all of these are from New Jersey)

In Toronto:
Yonge Street: Pronounced "young"

I always read that as Yawn-juh (can't figure out how to represent the "ge"...).

[formulanone]

New Braunfels: (as mispronounced by outsiders) noo BRONZ fulz or noo BRONZ ful

After two weeks there, I heard: "new BRAWNfell(s)" ...some folks seemed to leave off the last "s".

Also, they told me to try to pronounce San Antonio's county name (Bexar)...it is pronounced "bear". Didn't believe it until I saw the local news that night.

Joshua: josh uh WAY (mainly old timers, dying off)

I was wondering why one fellow in Dallas called me by that name for an entire week...

[andrewkbrown]

Guide to just about every city and town in Ohio.

http://scrippsjschool.org/pronunciation/