Dalziel
I was reading a book and one character was named Dalziel (male, in his 40s).
I only know it as a last name pronounced ‘Dee-ehl’ (as in the series ‘Dalziel and Pascoe’). Is anyone familiar with this name and can you explain the pronunciation and origin of it?
Also, is it used as a first name?
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As the wiki articles says the z actually represents the old letter yogh which looks a bit like a z. You find it quite a lot in Scottish place names like Culzean and Lenzie, and surnames like Menzies and Mckenzie. All of them are yoghs and all were originally pronounced as more of a y sound so culain, lengie, mingis, makenyie though nowadays it's not always the case as you'll see from Mckenzie. I've not personally heard Dalziel as a first name but I think it's of the class of surnames which tend to get passed down as first names more often when it's in the family.

This message was edited 10/23/2008, 12:33 AM

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I have a friend named Dalzell (female), pronounced Deeyel. (Well, the same as you just said)She cites it as being a Scottish surname (and the link to wiki posted be 78faba backs that up). I think it is actually an old family name for her.
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I found it on the english wikipedia-site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalziel

This message was edited 10/18/2008, 1:16 PM

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