Thread: English names

Where can I find the pronunciation of English first and, what is more important, second names? I hope there are special sites for that in the Internet, although I haven't found them yet. This is the question of general interest, since I often need to know names to tell them correctly, but I need to translate several files for a computer game. There are a lOT of names there (it is about the Civil War in USA - generals, colonels, majors, etc.).
For example, is McDowell Макдауэлл or Макдоуэлл?

Is Cuvier Кавьер, Кювьер or Кювье, since he is probably of French
origin? The same with general Stahl - Сталь or Шталь (German origin?)

What is Huger and Bachman? (Хагер, Хьюджер, Югер? Бахман, Бэчмэн?)
Kearny - Керни or Кирни?

etc, etc........ as I said a LOT of them, so I need a special dictionary or a special site with correct pronunciation.

Originally Posted by Propp

Where can I find the pronunciation of English first and, what is more important, second names? I hope there are special sites for that in the Internet, although I haven't found them yet. This is the question of general interest, since I often need to know names to tell them correctly, but I need to translate several files for a computer game. There are a lOT of names there (it is about the Civil War in USA - generals, colonels, majors, etc.).
For example, is McDowell Макдауэлл or Макдоуэлл?

Is Cuvier Кавьер, Кювьер or Кювье, since he is probably of French
origin? The same with general Stahl - Сталь or Шталь (German origin?)

What is Huger and Bachman? (Хагер, Хьюджер, Югер? Бахман, Бэчмэн?)
Kearny - Керни or Кирни?

etc, etc........ as I said a LOT of them, so I need a special dictionary or a special site with correct pronunciation.

I think what's worth pointing out is that most of these names you are mentioning are non-English names being "Anglicized". There isn't any easy answer: there's the way it was prounounced in the original language and the way it gets bastardized into English. FWIW:
Макдауэл
Кувье
Сталь
Хюжи
Бакман
Кэрни

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

ZDNet.ru: Sun идет по стопам MicrosoftМенеджер по маркетингу Эрик Стол (Eric Stahl) убежден, что инновации и технология ВЕА победят даже нулевой ценник. «Сервер приложений BEA WebLogic ...
zdnet.ru/?ID=192024

You do understand of course that this text was also written by somebody who asked the same question himself. It doesn't prove anything, really

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That name mostly pronounced in russian as Сталь or even Шталь (the latter is traditional for Russians having that last name), and very rare it's pronounced as Cтол, usually by those who just transliterate it from English not paying attention to traditional Russian spelling and German pronouncation.

Sometimes talking about Стол you'll just confuse people who know the person in question as Сталь or Шталь. They won't understand who're you talking about.

Franklin Stahl (a famouse sientist) :
http://elementy.ru/trefil/67

... и Франклин Сталь (Franklin Stahl, р. 1910) — провели в 1957 году в Калифорнийском технологическом институте серию экспериментов. ...

http://humanism.al.ru/ru/articles.phtml?num=000102

Метью Меселсон и Франклин Сталь в 1985 г. провели опыт, позволивший сделать этот однозначный выбор.

etc.

Шталь:
Ник Шталь (Nick Stahl) (http://www.kozlov.ru/video/actors.asp?id=2505)
and many others (Эрик Шталь, Георг Шталь и т.п.)

I remember, for example, Gertrude Stein, one of the most prominent American feminine writers. Her name in Russian is tranditionnaly rendered as Стайн, although I don't know why exactly, because if it is German, it should be Штайн, but if it is English, it should be Стейн.

So we go here to another problem: if the name is of non-English (German, French or Italian) origin, but the person since very long has lived in America or was born in America, how it is pronounced? Ciaparelli or Berlucci would be Чьяпарелли и Берлуччи or Сьяпарелли и Берлусси?

Originally Posted by Propp

So we go here to another problem: if the name is of non-English (German, French or Italian) origin, but the person since very long has lived in America or was born in America, how it is pronounced? Ciaparelli or Berlucci would be Чьяпарелли и Берлуччи or Сьяпарелли и Берлусси?

You are right. We have to determine first, what pronunciation of foreign names do we need. Whether origin one (the way how they pronounce in origin language) or their interpretation in English. E.g. I can't still get used to what way americans say "Шарапова". They pronounce it something like "Шэрэпоооова".

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

In America, Stahl is pronounced Стол. Period.
Now, Russian last names of females are pronounced, very often, with stress on the last syllable, i.e. Sharapova, and not Sharapova. If this name is in the news often, then some (reporters) will eventually pick it up, and try to say it correctly. But averall, most people would still say Sharapova.

I dare say you're out of you mind! Leslie Stahl prounounces it just like "Stall". Watch 60 minutes tonight to refresh your memory. And furthermore, as a resident of SC you ought to be close enough to Raleigh, NC and the Carolina Hurricanes to know that people pronounce Eric Stahl's last name as "Stall" -- I have know idea where you got the idea that it's said as "Stol/Stoll/Stohl" or anything else. How it's pronounced in actual German I can't say, but I can definitely say that it's "Stall" stateside! You are right about Hugee though -- the д should be in there.

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

Where is Dobry when you need him... He is one of the few in here who makes sense...

You're the only one here who doesn't. As always.

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

Go away, мальчик, go away.

С какой стати? И я не мальчик.

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

Oh really? You sure fooled me

Yep.

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Originally Posted by charlestonian

Are you really that.... (you can guess what I want to say) That's what I said! I simply wrote the pronunciation in Russian letters, СТОЛ: that is, pronounced like English STALL. (russian spelling was for comrades) I have never suggested that it sounds like Stol/Stoll, or anything else СТОЛ has Russian letters, not English Видишь русские буковки? С-Т-О-Л? Молодец, возьми пиченьку
Yes, Stahl is pronounced like Table in Russian, СТОЛ.

No, it's not!!!! That was my point: it's ABSOLUTELY NOT СТОЛ. It's СТАЛ! It's NOT pronounced like "table" in Russian.