pronounciation of last name "bunce"

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I'm pretty sure the owner of that last name knows better how to pronounce it.
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Click on the US flag on the left to hear it pronounced:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bunce
 
Surnames are pronounced exactly the way the bearer (or his family) wants to pronounce it.

Try this one: "Chynne". The guy I knew who bore this name pronounced it "chin". A friend of his (good thing they were friends) refused to use that pronunciation, claiming that it was unnatural, and insisted on saying his friend's name as "chine", rhyming with "chime".

Now here's a good one for you; pronounce THIS: Cholmondeley.

I once knew a Cholmondeley, and I know how HE said it.
 
It's his name after all, it's up to him to pronounce it however he wants to.

When I was small I remember so many instances of people not being able to pronounce my last name. Then the movie Spaceballs came out and almost instantly it was no longer a problem. Pronouncing it has come easily to almost every native English speaker I encounter since that movie came out.
 
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I've seen old men in gun stores almost get into a fist fight about the pronunciation of "Garand". As in the WWII clip fed Semi-Auto rifle the "M1 Garand".

There was actually a American Rifleman article that quoted a childhood friend of Mr. Garand about how it was properly pronounced.

However I forget.
 
Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
I've seen old men in gun stores almost get into a fist fight about the pronunciation of "Garand". As in the WWII clip fed Semi-Auto rifle the "M1 Garand".

There was actually a American Rifleman article that quoted a childhood friend of Mr. Garand about how it was properly pronounced.

However I forget.

The famous Julian Hatcher actually knew John Garand first-hand. In his publication "Hatcher's Notebook", on page 382, Hatcher asserts that John Garand himself pronounced his own name to rhyme with "parent", and with the accent on the first syllable: GARE-end.

Another controversy surrounds Walter Chrysler's name. Just now I can't find where I have it (I have so very many books), but Chrysler himself pronounced his name KRIZ-ler, with a short "i". There is a marked tendency for English-speakers to give the letter "y" a long sound by default when it's in the middle of a name, and they did so incessantly with Walter's name, so he just had to get used to the mispronunciation.

And then there's Lee Iacocca. The family always pronounced it ya-COKE-ah (the "o" is long, like in "cocaine", but the sound is shortened, if that makes any sense). There was even a family member who owned a restaurant called "Yocco's, a play on the Italian pronunciation. The story I read was the Lee got tired of correcting people who mispronounced the name as EYE-a-COKE-ah, and began just letting it slide.
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
boe - like doe, hoe..etc

ner - like it looks

=

boehner

there's no water, there's no bay anywhere around that one.

The "oe" combination in German is an expansion of "ö", which is an "o" with an umlaut.

Ever heard a native German speaker pronounce an "ö"? Sounds like a cross between a long "o" and a long "a". English ears tend to equate it with a long "a", and so for Böhner/Boehner you get "bayner".
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Somehow, the name Mienkeiwicz is pronounced "min-KAY-vich".

Are you sure you're spelling that correctly? The "ei" combination does not seem right for Polish.
 
My last name seems easy to English speakers- Faller. I even answer when people ask for Mr. FALL-er. It isn't English though, so it is pronounced FOWL-er. End of the day, you should pronounce it the way the owner of the name wants. On my mothers side they all pronounce Berringer differently! Drives me nuts.

ref
 
I'm always reminded of the Car and Driver editor from several years back.

Csaba Csere.

(chu-ba che-da)
 
I work with someone with the last name of Nemargut. Looks like NEE-mar-gut, right? He pronounces it neh-MARE-uh-gut. Where the syllable between the r and g comes from, I'm not sure. But, it's his name.

There are a number of Bunces around here, by the way. It's definitely BUNce, not BOONce. BUNce, like DUNce, as in dunce cap.
 
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