[email protected] wrote: > Knap is actually pronounced "kah nop" in the old country ..... Here in West Michigan, USA, where I live there is another Knapp family as well. When I met her I introduced myself to the Mrs. as Wyatt Knapp (I pronounced it "nap") she said, "Oh, thats my last name too...except in our family we pronounce it "Kuh-nap." I wondered about how our two families came down through the generations related somewhere back there, but the pronounciation changing somewhere along the way. Is there any evidence for how it was originally pronounced, and why some changed it. Do we know how the Nicholas Knapp/early families pronounced it. And also, there are so many stories about the derivation of the name. Did that evolve independantly in various countries? I don't think I believe the A.A. Knapp Explanation of "Cneop" Old English for "hill" being the derivation. -Wyatt Knapp