Below is a non-comprehensive list of surnames which are pronounced non-intuitively. (Or one could argue that they are pronounced perfectly sensibly but the spelling is non-intuitive.)
I've also included a count of how many times each surname applies in the 2006/07 Brighton telephone directory, to give you an idea of the relative importance of learning to pronounce each name correctly.
Spelling | Pronunciation | Freq |
---|---|---|
Althorp | Owltrop | 0 |
Ayscough | Askew | 0 |
Beauchamp | Beacham | 12 |
Beaudesert | Belzer | 0 |
Beaulieu | Bewley | 0 |
Belvoir | Beaver | 0 |
Chandos | Shandos | 0 |
Chisholm | Chiz’m | 11 |
Cholmondley | Chumley | 0 |
Cockburn | Coburn | 10 |
Colquhoun/Colquhon | Co’hoon | 6 |
Cowper | Cooper | 3 |
Crawshaw | Crayshaw | 2 |
Dalziel | Dee’el | 6 |
Farquhar/Farquar | Far’har | 2 |
Featherstonehaugh | Fanshaw | 0 |
Fiennes | Fines | 0 |
Gower | Gore [1] | 40 |
Greenhaugh | Greenallsh | 0 |
Home | Hume [1] | 3 |
McKenzie/MacKenzie | Macinnie [1] | 59 |
Magdalene | Maudlin | 0 |
Mainwaring | Mannering | 1 |
Marjoribanks | Marshbanks | 0 |
Menzies | Mingis [1] | 5 |
Ruthven | Ruffen | 0 |
St John | Sin-jen | 5 |
Trywhitt | Territ | 0 |
Urquhart | Urhart | 5 |
Wauchope | Warkup | 3 |
Wodehouse | Woodhouse | 1 |
Woolfhardisworthy | Woolsey | 0 |
Worcester | Wu’ster | 2 |
Wriothesley | Roxley | 0 |
Wymondham | Wind’am | 0 |
***
1 Also pronounced as spelt.