I promised myself I wasn't, but I AM going to get into this, one more time: The German rule of grammar when two vowels come together, you pronounce the sound of the second vowel... So, GEIGER is pronounced "guyger" or rhymes with tiger (long I); And GIEGER would be pronounced "geeger" (long E); however, the Swiss spoke a dialect called Switzerdeutsch, and it was scribed in Church records as GYGER. I have been told that this dialect pronounces the "y" as in Gymnastic, or similar to the "i" in the English pronoun "it" - hence it rhymes with "bigger" (i has short e sound); When the Officials of the British Colonies tried to Anglicize the name they wrote GEIGER, but the Swiss settlers continued to say "gigger" or "giger" or even "Kegar" that was recorded in the Land Grant which Grandfather Ulric received...the harsh or guttural "G" was not well received by the British ear...It sounded much like a "K" So, Cousin Anne may be correct that they just got tired of hearing it mispronounced and decided to join them...You see, every person who sees my name says it different than what they actually see... If they see GIE they say GEI... I correct them and even spell it again, then they repeat it back just like they said it in the first place,- wrong again...WISH I HAD A DIME FOR EVERY ONE THAT I HAVE CORRECTED...IN SCHOOL, IN BUSINESS, EVERYPLACE...I would be VERY rich... Or, our emigrant forebears could have decided to try to be like their neighbors and become a part of this newly adopted Country...or as someone suggested, the two brothers from Switzerland decided to separate their lines by modifying it a little themselves... Last Summer in MS, the subject was being discussed and the wife of one of my fourth-cousins echoed my sentiment...and she is only a GIEGER by marriage; The MS Census' for 1820 thru 1870 spell Grandfather Jessie's name Gigger; Giger; Grigger, and Gieger. His Grave-marker and his son's Bible spell it "GIEGER" so I guess that is good enough for me...I have not seen it, but friends say that there is a large ladies' clothing Manufacturing firm in Zurich which spells it GIEGER and it is painted on the side of the building...Shortly after the Wall came down in 1989, my first-cousin was in Berlin, where he was told that he was Swiss, not German, because he "spelled it wrong" to be German... I think Nationalism had something to do with that...as the spirit was high in that time, right after the Reunification of East and West... Anyway, we all agree, at least among the Swiss, that we are Cousins, of one blood, and tolerate each other, no matter that we spell or say it differently... Gerry >From: "rconnell" <[email protected]> >Reply-To: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [GEIGER] Pronunciation >Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 21:30:45 -0400 > >Could it be that our "Northern" GEIGERS were mostly from Germany, period - >although with some of them having Swiss roots a generation or two back >(having emigrated earlier) - and thus would pronounce the name that way? > >And that the "Southern" GEIGERS came directly from SWT, were originally >called GYGER - changed their name to GEIGER (prob. got tired of trying to >explain the difference to their German neighbors in SC and GA) - but >continued to pronounce it their way? > >We know that some ships dropped emigrant passengers at both Charleston and >Phila. and we know of some GEIGERS who moved back and forth between north >and south. And we know of one SC will that speaks of a brother in Germany, >which is intriguing. > >Then Roland comes along and gives us "Gäijasch" to ponder over. <sigh> > >Anne > > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Geraldine Towner <[email protected]> > > > > Hi everyone, > > I'm from Minnesota and we pronounce it like it rhymes with tiger. > > Gerri > > > > > >==== GEIGER Mailing List ==== >To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list send an e-mail to: >[email protected] (mail mode) or [email protected] >(digest mode) and put only one word--either SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the >subject and the body of the message. > >============================== >Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate >your heritage! >http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com