The Great Canadian Surname Thread - Page 2

Acajack · #21 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 2:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I'd say Mah-HOE-nee, Doe-er--ty, Strawn (Strah-kun???!!!)

In the case of Gladstone (I think you meant), I'm somewhere between the two you list: GLAD-ston

How would you guys pronounce McGeough? Muh-goo? Muh-kew?

Aylwin? Ayl-win or All-win?

isaidso · #22 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 2:58 AM**

No surnames around here seem to stand out as more common that others. It's a bit too diverse for that. If I were in Vaughan it would be different.

Xelebes · #23 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 5:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

How would you guys pronounce McGeough? Muh-goo? Muh-kew?

Ah yes, Mr. Magoo, the blind NHL referee,

SignalHillHiker · #24 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 10:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

One thing I noticed when travelling in Commonwealth countries is that Canada has adopted a lot of U.S. pronunciations of surnames.

For example:

Mahoney - is it maw-ny or muh-hoe-ny
Doherty - dock-erty or dorty
Strachan - strawn or strah-kun
Johnstone - glad-stunn or glad-stone

I'd do the second of all those (Muh-hoe-ny, Dorty, and Glad-stone - but the third I'd say Strackin, it's almost the same as our Strickland or whatever) - is that the American way?

kwoldtimer · #25 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 11:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

How would you guys pronounce McGeough? Muh-goo? Muh-kew?

Aylwin? Ayl-win or All-win?

I've only seen McGeough once before, and the family pronounced it Muh-GOFF.

I've not encountered Alywin before, but I would say ALE-win (like Ale-mer

)

When you see how the Brits pronounce surnames like Beauchamp, Dalziel and Stjames, it's not hard to understand why alternative pronunciations develop.

Acajack · #26 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 12:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I've only seen McGeough once before, and the family pronounced it Muh-GOFF.

I've not encountered Alywin before, but I would say ALE-win (like Ale-mer

)

When you see how the Brits pronounce surnames like Beauchamp, Dalziel and Stjames, it's not hard to understand why alternative pronunciations develop.

I believe Brits, Aussies and Kiwis pronounce Aylmer "Elmer" and Aylwin "All-winn".

MolsonExport · #27 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by begratto

On Montreal's island, obviously French surnames are the the most common, Tremblay being #1. But there are two notables exceptions in the top ten, Nguyen (apparently 40% of people of Vietnamese origins living abroad are called "Nguyen") and Patel.

The top ten goes as follows:

Tremblay
Nguyen
Gagnon
Roy
Patel
Côté
Gauthier
Bouchard
Morin
Leblanc

The only non-French surnames in Montreal's top 50 are Tran (#24) and Smith (#41).

Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Les noms de famille au Québec : aspects statistiques et distribution spatiale, fichier 2, p82

Amazing link. The first non-French surname for the entire province is at the 130th ranking for Nguyen. The next is Smith, at 178th place. Really remarkable.

MolsonExport · #28 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTLskyline

I have to say, as someone who's entire family can be traced to PEI, you covered it quite well. A few other extremely common PEI names are Gallant, Arsenault, Mac..., Murphy, etc.

In Quebec, interestingly there are some francophones with English sounding names that I haven't heard of anywhere else. Someone with the name "Handfield" is almost always francophone.

Plenty of completely french Blackburns, Burns, Nelligans, Johnsons, and McGregors.

Acajack · #29 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Mah-ho-knee

Doe-er-tee

Stra-ch-an

John-stone

How the hell people get glad out of John I will never know..

Sorry - was a mistake on my part. I was thinking of both Johnstone and Glastone.

Acajack · #30 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Amazing link. The first non-French surname for the entire province is at the 130th ranking for Nguyen. The next is Smith, at 178th place. Really remarkable.

Harvey is two spots up from Nguyen at 128. But being the typical Québécois that you are, MolsonEx, I see you didn't notice it and lumped it in as a French Canadian surname! Which most people consider it to be of course.

Acajack · #31 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:24 PM**

In francophone circles in eastern Ontario, the equivalent of Smith would be Lalonde.

In francophone Acadian circles in southeastern New Brunswick, the equivalents of Smith and Brown would be Leblanc and Cormier.

Also, there are a lot of francophone people with the name White in New Brunswick who are descendants of people who anglicized their original name Leblanc, but for some reason still kept up French in the family.

Acajack · #32 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:33 PM**

From other languages to French:

Riley = Riel
Sullivan = Sylvain
Farnsworth = Phaneuf
Rodrigues = Rodrigue
Fulham = Foulem (NE New Brunswick)
Meyer = Mayer or Meilleur
McGee = Mainguy or Minguy
Leahey or Leahy = Lahaie or LaHaye

From French to English:

Cuillerrier = Spooner
Aucoin = Corner or O'Quinn
Beauchamp = Fairfield
Boisvert = Greenwood
Roquebrune = Rockburn
Boutillier/LeBouthillier = Butler or Boteler
Lafleur = Leafloor

SignalHillHiker · #33 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:53 PM**

Wow, the only two Newfoundlanders, friends, I know whose mother tongue is French are both O'Quinn.

We always joked that even the francophones in Newfoundland had Irish names. I don't think they even know it comes from Aucoin. Can't wait to tell them!

freeweed · #34 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is also something about the name Friesen that automatically evokes the Prairie provinces in my mind.

Specifically Manitoba. The Mennonite names there are insanely common:

Friesen, Penner, Wiebe, Enns, Reimer, Kroeker, Loewen, Thiessen, Dueck, Neufeld, Toews, Dyck... the list goes on and on. But this dozen alone covers 90% of some towns in Manitoba.

Every single class I ever had in high school or university ended up with at least 2 or 3 of these names in it. Sometimes many more.

Acajack · #35 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Wow, the only two Newfoundlanders, friends, I know whose mother tongue is French are both O'Quinn.

We always joked that even the francophones in Newfoundland had Irish names. I don't think they even know it comes from Aucoin. Can't wait to tell them!

The name Aucoin originates (in North America at least) on the west coast of Cape Breton Island around the town of Chéticamp.

Acajack · #36 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeweed

Specifically Manitoba. The Mennonite names there are insanely common:

Friesen, Penner, Wiebe, Enns, Reimer, Kroeker, Loewen, Thiessen, Dueck, Neufeld, Toews, Dyck... the list goes on and on. But this dozen alone covers 90% of some towns in Manitoba.

Every single class I ever had in high school or university ended up with at least 2 or 3 of these names in it. Sometimes many more.

Epp?

Acajack · #37 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 1:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Wow, the only two Newfoundlanders, friends, I know whose mother tongue is French are both O'Quinn.

We always joked that even the francophones in Newfoundland had Irish names. I don't think they even know it comes from Aucoin. Can't wait to tell them!

Obviously not all O'Quinn are descendants of Aucoin. Some of the names I posted are simply people adopting an existing name that was close. But some like Phaneuf and Rodrigue have no other origin than what I stated I am pretty sure.

In western PEI you have Acadian people who are named Perry who used to be Poirier but who still speak French.

Doug · #38 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 2:35 PM**

I doubt there is any pattern in Calgary as the region has only been inhabited for 4-5 generations and has always had a very mobile populace. Through the Prairies, you do see more Mennonite and Ukrainian names that you would encounter elsewhere. That trend is still observable in Calgary, but probably not to the same extent.

vid · #39 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 3:45 PM**

Looking at the phone book, any names listed longer than one column (and we're not a big city so that 80 to 100 names is impressive):

Anderson
Brown
Campbell
Johnson
Martin
McDonald
Miller
Smith
Stewart

rousseau · #40 Posted **Sep 20, 2012, 4:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeweed

Specifically Manitoba. The Mennonite names there are insanely common:

Friesen, Penner, Wiebe, Enns, Reimer, Kroeker, Loewen, Thiessen, Dueck, Neufeld, Toews, Dyck... the list goes on and on. But this dozen alone covers 90% of some towns in Manitoba.

Every single class I ever had in high school or university ended up with at least 2 or 3 of these names in it. Sometimes many more.

Heard about the disease that's raging across the Mennonite community in Southern Manitoba? It's called "Abes." It's spreading from Dyck to Dyck without Reimer Friesen.

Heh.