Featherstonehaugh

[Tilly2]

Who would know how to pronounce this? Only people who have that surname. That's a puzzle. How does it work? Not exactly phonetic!.

[mike11111]

Same as Cholmondely and Beauchamp.

[jomifl]

fanshaw

[jomifl]

It is part of being English and have either read books a bit or or ride to hounds.

[shaneystar2]

I think it's pronounced as Fanshaw . I think there was a Wodehouse character Featherstonehaugh and he was called Fanshaw Ewkridge ..something like that anyway !

[boxtops]

Always pronounced as fan-shaw

[Tilly2]

I know it's Fanshaw but how could you possibly know if you didn't move in those circles?

[sunny-dave]

My first dog was called Cholmondley Marjoribanks - she was a little scrap of a puppy from an animal sanctuary & so she was given a very grand name :+)

She instantly became 'Chumps', but the vet had her full name - lots of fun in reception :)

[Calibax]

^I think that's the point Tilly. Not knowing how to pronounce it identifies one as an oik.

[FredPuli43]

It's not pronounced 'Fanshaw' now, though popularly believed to be so. Feston-hew, Feston-haw, or even Feather-stun-haw perhaps, but not Fanshaw.

The really deceptive one is Powell. Is it Anthony POW-el for the author, and Baden PO-el for the scout leader, or the other way round, or some other arrangement?

Woburn Abey ? Is that Woe-burn, Woe-bun, Wooburn, Woo-bun or some other pronunciation ? Even the Dukes of Bedford couldn't agree. The present one says Woe-burn. The previous one seemed to settle for Woo-bun, but his immediate descendant settled for what most people say.

And Gumster for Godmanchester and Stew- key for Stiffkey are two examples of how locals pronounced the place names many years ago but which have since become pronounced as they look.

[seadogg]

Vive le differance! There is a Claughton in Lancashire and also Yorkshire but they sound very different.

[boxtops]

Try them here http://en.wikipedia.o...tive_pronunciations#S

have fun ☺

[HowardKennitby]

//
It's not pronounced 'Fanshaw' now, though popularly believed to be so. Feston-hew, Feston-haw, or even Feather-stun-haw perhaps, but not Fanshaw.
//

Who has decided this? And why was I not informed?

[Wharton]

I heard Gordon Strachan being referred to as Gordon 'Strawn' - BBC

[FredPuli43]

lol Howard. This piece of information has been stuck in my mind for about 30 years. I learnt it from a Debrett's publication which helpfully gave a list of family names with their pronunciations, which differed according to which family was being addressed. After all, m'dear fellow, it would be SO embarrassing to address a Northamptonshire Bloggs as 'Bloggs' when everyone knows that they say 'Blocks' (and the Worcestershire Bloggs say 'Black') wouldn't it?

In common with many things that one learns, it has never been of any practical use . I cannot recall meeting a Featherstonehaugh but, if I have, the hostess or one of the servants would, of course, have said the name when introducing them and any embarrassment would have been avoided.

[vaffangool]

Without a doubt, it is pronounced Fanshaw. Follow the YouTube link skip to 35:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjX7sqUXHM

[vaffangool]

Terribly sorry, this is the proper link. It is pronounced FANSHAW, and the video provides other examples. Just like Worcester is pronounced WOOSTER, one requires the benefit of exposure in order to pronounce them properly. There are no phonet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYwDIPVuGk

[vaffangool]

Terribly sorry, this is the proper link. Skip to 35:30. Without a doubt, it is pronounced FANSHAW, and the video provides other examples.

Just as Worcester is pronounced WOOSTER, there are no phonetic rules from which one might derive the proper pronounciation--one simply learns them by benefit of exposure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYwDIPVuGk

[vaffangool]

A way to test if someone was German during World War Two was to get them to say certain names, because the Germans would pronounce them wrongly. Common examples included "Featherstonehaugh" (FANSHAW), "Cholmondeley" (CHUMLEY), "Berkeley" (BARKLEY), "Mainwaring" (MANNERING) and "Belvoir" (BEAVER). One aristocratic name is "Tollemache", and there was a Tollemache-Tollemache family, but each half was pronounced differently. It was pronounced "Toolmake-Tollmash". One member of their family had the longest name of anyone in the British army, which was Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. His elder brother was called Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. The initials of his Christian names spell "Lyonel the Second".

[vaffangool]

A way to test if someone was German during World War Two was to get them to say certain names, because the Germans would pronounce them wrongly. Common examples included "Featherstonehaugh" (FANSHAW), "Cholmondeley" (CHUMLEY), "Berkeley" (BARKLEY), "Mainwaring" (MANNERING) and "Belvoir" (BEAVER). One aristocratic name is "Tollemache", and there was a Tollemache-Tollemache family, but each half was pronounced differently. It was pronounced "Toolmake-Tollmash". One member of their family had the longest name of anyone in the British army, which was Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. His elder brother was called Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. The initials of his Christian names spell "Lyonel the Second".

http://www.comedy.co....e/tv/qi/episodes/7/7/