Re: "Fitzgerald" pronunciation [was: Re: Pronunciation of the name Antoinette]

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:34:06 +0100, Graeme Thomas
<graeme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrought:

In article <449d43e7$0$20683$afc38c87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Peter
Moylan <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
At high school a girl in my class had the surname Lebreton or Le Breton
or leBreton. I once asked her what the correct spelling was, and her
answer boiled down to saying that it didn't matter; the family accepted
any of the obvious variations, and apparently it hadn't occurred to them
to pick one and use it as their standard.

The problem would be that it wouldn't have mattered if they *had* picked
a standard; no-one else would have stuck to it.

My brother-in-law's father and grandfather had different names. One
began "Mac", while the other began "Mc". The change happened when my
BiL's father joined the army. The recruiting clerk wrote down the wrong
spelling, and then claimed that it could not be changed. He continued
with his "army" name when he rejoined civilian life. My BiL will answer
to either spelling, but if pressed he points out that all the official
paperwork says "Mc".

On a more personal level, I dislike being addressed as "Graham". It's
the wrong spelling. It is, as I have been known to point out, crackers.
But, no matter how much I make this dislike known, acquaintances
continue to do it.

Don't you, even secretly without telling anybody ever, wish your
parents had given you a name that everyone knew how to spell as soon
as you uttered it? I've often thought that about the world's Stevens
and Stephens, Geoffreys and Jeffreys.

The only famous two people called /'greI@m/ who spell it your way that
come to mind are the unfunny one in the Goodies -- okay, make that
"the particularly unfunny one" -- and some Jock clogger who played for
Liverpool and then became a manager. (I assume that Graham Greene's
parents decided he already had enough on his plate with his surname.)

Me, since that mugging, bewigged comic popped his clogs I seldom get
asked whether my surname is spelled with an "a" or an "e". I always
hated that man for ruining my life like that.


--
THE
.

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