Behind the Name: Pronunciation Guide

What follows are the sounds used in the name pronunciations on this site. Please note that not all names have yet been assigned a pronunciation. Also note that all of this is only intended to be a rough guide. Pronunciations in different dialects (as in British and American English) can vary considerably.

Dashes are used to separate syllables. Stressed syllables are written in CAPITALS. Note that in English, the vowel in an unstressed syllable often undergoes a reduction, causing it to be spoken much like the U in the list below.

Symbol	Example
B	bed
CH	cheek (tsh)
D	dam
DH	then
F	fake
G	give
H	hen
J	jump (dzh)
K	cat
KH	Scottish loch
L	lamp
M	maze
N	not
NG	fling, sink
P	pain
R	right *
S	side
SH	shine
T	top
TH	thin
V	very
W	water
Y	yeti
Z	zebra
ZH	azure, vision

* R is used to represent several different r-like sounds. For further clarification, the following may be used:

Symbol	Example
RH	French riche (guttural R)
RR	Spanish rojo (trilled R)
Ṙ	Spanish caro (tapped R)

Symbol	Example
A	bat, can
AH	pot, con **
AW	bought, sawn **
AY	bait, cane
E	bet, care
EE	beet, keen
I	bit, kin
IE	bite, kind
O	boat, cone
OI	boy, coin
OO	boot, soon
OW	bout, gown
U	but, sun
UI	Dutch huis
UU	French feu
UW	put, took
UY	French rue
ə	about (schwa)

** Many English speakers pronounce AH and AW the same

Symbol	Explanation
:	preceding vowel is long (drawn out)
'	guttural fricative
H	preceding consonant is aspirated
N	preceding vowel is nasalized
T	epenthetic t
ə	following consonant is syllabic

The four letters above should appear smaller and raised. Example: the T in DANTS (dance).