forenames (first names)
 

We got all kinds of names given to kids today. Some are hard to
pronouce or figure out. Oprah Winfrey said her mom could not spell "Orpha" her intended first name and hence "Oprah"
I know kids who use different pronunciations for the same spelling so I toss this out to you-all for comment
Michael, Micheal..is it "My-kul" or "Mi-kee-yul"?
Sean, Shawn...are both "Shawn" or one "Seen"
Ian, is it E-yun or I-yun or John?
Gerald, is is Jerald or Gare-eld?
Xavier, mis-pronounced X-ay-vee-ur should be Zay-vee-ur
Then there are those born who were named for heroes of sorts,
like Francis Marion...of the Rev War, and some changed to Frank
Is it Francis or Frances? Generally Frances is a female.
Bishop Francis Asbury, often spelled Asberry
no problem with the Rev War sergeants Jasper & Newton, or was
it Newton and Jasper?
And, of course, in Greekdom we have Phi, Xi, Iota, Upsilon, and
Tau, which should rhyme with "paw" is sometimes "tauw" rhyming with cow.
Harry S Truman had only S, so no problem there
The study of onomastics and anthroponymics in itself is an interesting adjunct to genealogy. Then we have preachers who
write names in the family bible (mom & dad can't write) and they
misspell...fun...
And we have not addressed surname spelling, perhaps next time.
Genealogy is a personal encounter with history.

People always think that me, my brother, and my sister can't pronounce our own names right, or that we can't spell them. This is the most annoying thing. I mean, I think that we would know better than they would ...

What does this have to do with Greek Life?

I watch FOX every Sun. Morning and wonder where in the Heck some of these names come from or Movie Actors who name their Children with No thought of when they grow to Adulthood.:rolleyes:
Kind of rememind Me of Vanity Plates that I cannot figure out!

Greek Lettering can also be a major Problem, "Phi" Fe Fo Fum?

Xi, Tau. Always interesting ones!;)

Thank goodnes some like Lambda Chi Alpha and Others are easy to remember and dont have to think to hard!:D

Haha Tom...you say Lambda Chi Alpha isn't hard? I love to hear people butcher it with Lambda "Chee" Alpha...you'd think people would know better...;)

Re: forenames (first names)
 

Having a son named Sean ... both are pronounced "Shawn" ... in Gaelic SE is the SH sound. Shawn is the anglicized spelling.

Re: Re: forenames (first names)
 

My Pike friend spells his name Shon. What region does this spelling come from?

PhiPsiRuss
 

you flunked reading, too. Please re-read my message and you
will see a Greek connection. You awake or somethin?

Re: PhiPsiRuss
 

I'm sorry. Your post was so poorly written and edited, that I didn't get to that part.

jerky phi psi
 

why don't you wrap yourself in that big-ass endowment fund and
try to be a bit civil to us'ns, the healots, the unfortunates

Re: forenames (first names)
 

Depending on the language Xavier can be CORRECTLY said "Hav-yer"

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Erik P Conard

Xavier, mis-pronounced X-ay-vee-ur should be Zay-vee-ur

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I did know a boy who's name was Xavier and it was pronounced X-ay-vee-ur. I think pronounciations depend on the parents & family.

Re: Re: forenames (first names)
 

Okay, I can said something like five words in Gaelic (Nollag Dhuit, btw!), but I get confused with the "sh" sound - how does Siobhan get to be pronounced "Chev-on"? And how are Maeve & Mairead pronounced?

I honestly think that some parents who were saddled with common names as kids go out of their way to make their own children's name a little different to make them stand out. Unfortunately, it just makes them look like poor spellers (or worse!).


And Erik, yes, genealogy DOES personalize history! I intend to make it my second career!

mission accomplished
 

Having brought up first names as a result of genealogy and its
influence, I am happy with the responses. On Xavier, though,
the X would indeed be different for the French and Spanish, and
the X in old Spanish was "sh" a sound no longer extant today in
Spanish. But in English...do we play the "ex-zile-o-phone?" But
we are entitled to any pronunciation we want. In long lists of
students, I found an italian, surnamed Dighero callin' it Digerryo
and think the the footballer, Favre....because it is difficult for us
English speakers to sort that out. Some even say "favor."
And my English writing critics...there are a goodly number of us who may not be so talented, even with a PhD, but...clown...you
are not my peer and never will be.
Again, in genealogy, we can bite off a big chunk if'n a mind to, and our growth in terms of humankind, geography and history will
point out our dedication. Many of you have learned considerable
by simply sharing what we say/do on this site, warts & all...LOL

Don't forget about the immigration officers at Ellis Island who changed a lot of people's names! My maternal grandmother was Ignazia Tirrito. When her family came to the US in the early 1900's, some of them became Territos and some became Territas. Nobody in our current generations were ever sure which was correct. For family reunions, the newsletters/info packets were like this Territ@ to encompass both the 'a's and the 'o's. They changed her first name to Nancy. When the Ellis Island site came online, I was bound and determined to find their manifest, which became quite a challenge. My Uncle Salvatore had the same intent and also had a hard time finding my maternal grandmother's family on the site. He ended up in touch with someone from the Son's and Daughter's of Sicily out of Chicago and found out then that the correct spelling was Tirrito. We have since found a website that has all the surnames of everybody who lived in the small town in Sicily that they are from and confirmed this. On the Ellis Island site though, some of them are listed as Eirrito! They were tough to find. Similar things happened with my paternal grandfather's family. He went from Vincenzo to Jim at immigration. Some of his family is DiFranco, some are DeFranco. DiFranco is correct. It definitely makes the genealogy difficult. In following Italian tradition, the first born son is to be named after the paternal grandfather and the second born son is to be named after the maternal grandfather. So, I have a cousin Jim (named after my paternal grandfather) and my brother Vince (named after the SAME paternal grandfather).

Re: jerky TKE
 

Before you accuse people of flunking English, why don't you re-read what you wrote. Ever hear of a paragraph?

inducing narcolepsy
 

you sound like an interesting person

Geez, Erik, can't you even take a day off for Christmas?

And?

At my high school, the asst. principal was Bill Anthis.

Altho born William Anthis, he said Bill Anthis at the Army induction center, and figured it would be easier to change his name than get the Army to correct something.

My brother, Calvin, went through his entire stint in the service as "Clavin".

My poor uncle, killed in action, was John Wesley Theodore Roosevelt Keaton. His body came back as "Wesley John Keaton".

Yeah, the Army knows what it's doing! :rolleyes:

The wonderful government workers that work in immigration still do this. Half of my family ended up with a different spelling of the name. And my favorite part? The fact that they messed up on my birthday. When anyone figures out how to correct your birthday, let me know.

-Rudey

I was thinking of Greek mispronunciations--our daughter's friend was getting ready to rush awhile back and she said she would love to join "Zee-ta Tow Ayl-pha". Mispronounced every word. She ended up pledging another one but I always wondered if she went to the Zeta parties and pronounced their name that way.

I should've corrected her but she was with a group of her friends and I didn't know how to do it and not humiliate her--:(

I was also thinking the same thing :)

At any rate, I don't think names or whatever "should" be pronounced a certain way. Different cultures/people pronounce things differently.

I can help you here!

1) Most names were NOT bastardized at Ellis Island; families would try to Americanize them on their own. That's how you get several spellings of the same family's last name.

2) Other times, mothers with illegitimate children would take the chance to change their name & status of their babies.

3) To change your own, it would depend on which state you live in. There's a depository for every birth certificate in each state (for births after 1900); contact them and tell your situation. You'll probably need at least one other person to prove what do you truly were born, and possibly a document such as a religious one, your rabbi, or whomever.

Re: Re: Re: forenames (first names)
 

Boneheadia?

The military decided to try to "correct" the spelling of my brother's name on his Selective Service stuff. Even after he sent it back to try to fix it, they still didn't get it. You'd think they'd have access to his birth certificate or something ...

In my family's case, it was the workers. My nono said "Vincenzo" and they said "We'll call you Jim". Ditto with my nana who said "Ignazia" and ended up Nancy.

Actually, in British English, "Zeta" is pronounced with a long e, as is "Beta". She was being international without knowing it. :)

Re: mission accomplished
 

In various parts of Spain, an "x" is often pronounced as "sh". If you want to go to a champagne bar in Barcelona, you ask for the nearest "sham-pan-yera", not a "zam-pan-yera".

How is a Spanish X pronounced?

Oh, I'm not saying that it didn't happen, as I'm sure it did. I'm quoting the latest copy of the Genealogical Helper (the mothership for genealogy geeks). It says, "Many people have said that their names were changed at Ellis Island, but when the name is properly researched, it is usually the immigrant who chose to anglicize his or her name."

Welcome to my world...


"Delta Chi? Hmmm, 'delta' means change if I rememeber from math class....and 'chai' is a latte.....so your fraternity is about changing coffee?"


I swear I heard that!

my calculus professor used these pronunciations and it was like nails on a blackboard to me!

beeta and oop-silon. she would stress the "oop" part like it was her call and duty.

When I learned the Greek alphabet, I thought MU was pronounced "MOO".

And then I attended my first Convention...I couldn't help but snicker whenever the Convention announcer pronounced it "MEW".

Which is correct?

I reckon either is correct.

I am in the MOO Alpha Chapter of APO but the MEW Lambda Chapter of APhiA.

Go figure.

Mew, and uupsilon are good with Me!

XI and Phi are a biotch!:eek:

Zee and Fhi as far as I am concerned!:D

Is one on these things Either or Norther?;)

call it what you will....
 

concordance, agreement. It might be reasonable to pronounce your greek name all in the English accepted or in the ancient one.
So, Alpha Phi would be ALL-fa FEE (Greek) or Al-fa FY (English)
and Alpha Xi Delta, ALL-fa ZEE (Greek) or Al-fa ZY (English) The most ridiculouis in Upsilon...it is not UP (like high) nor is it Yoop,
but it is OOP (rhymes with poop) si-lawn. And it is TAW for Tau,
and it does not rhyme with COW. Mu is not a bovine, but should
be like a cat, MEW, if one adhere's to modern custom. Iota is
EYE-o-ta, contrary to what SAI says. Groove Phi Groove...cute.
But we have enough problems with ever-changing English in the
pronunciation of Celtic or Xavier (should be ZAY-v-er, do you play
an EX-i-lo-fone? Is it preventive or preventative, orient or orientate, and enamored of or enamored with? Then there is british english. How do we get HO from whore?
Do as you please. Even American English teachers, including the
unemployed, have little understanding of linguistics or phonetics.
Oh, well, some dummies are hung up on writing a paragraph, which she may do well, but misspell the words therein. Duh

:)

Now, My Question is, Was I Close?

Many Go By The Dogma!;)

Re: call it what you will....
 

Both EYE-o-ta and EE-o-ta are correct. We use the latter, for various reasons.
http://www.greeklatinaudio.com/additional.htm

This brings up a fond memory....

When I was pledging a GLO (which I later quit), they would yell at us for saying 'moo'. They'd be like, it's "meeew", not "moooo" we're not f*ckin' cows!!"