I have never been to Whalley in Lancashire, England, but I have been to Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, England. There, the pronunciation is definitely WAY-lee. I've written it purposely without the 'h', because if the 'h' is pronounced I have difficulty hearing it. I've also been to Manchester, which used to be in Lancashire before the bureacrats messed about with the counties, and there is a suburb there called Whalley Range, definitely pronounced Wolly, or Wally if you prefer that spelling. To try and be clear, let's say it rhymes with Polly, as in Polly Wolly Doodle. So this is my experience of what we have in England: Whalley, Walley are pronounced to rhyme with Polly, everywhere except near to the village of Whalley in Lancashire, where it is pronounced WALL-ee, rhyming with Warley. Whaley is pronounced WAY-lee, to rhyme with daily (i.e. every day). In all cases, if the 'h' is aspirated, it is done very minimally. Frank ----Original Message Follows---- From: keith_w <keith_w@dslextreme.com> Reply-To: WHALEY-L@rootsweb.com To: WHALEY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WSP] Whaley vs Whalley Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:12:18 -0700 Frank Whalley wrote: >I was born in Staffordshire, England, and there my name was always >pronounced 'Wally', like the first name which is common in the USA but not >very common here. In fact, I have seen the name written in censuses as >'Wolley', presumably after being spoken to an enumerator by an illiterate >person. > >When I chased my family tree to Cheshire, I found that there in the early >1800s my family spelled their names 'Walley', without and 'h', and they >were not illiterate. The 'h' was added later, probably to 'poshify' it. > >I have never visited the village of Whalley in Lancashire (shame!), but I'm >told by people who come from around there that in those parts it is >pronouned with the long 'a' - Wall - ee. > >In colloquial English, the term 'wally' denotes an inadequate or stupid >person. Therefore I have changed the way I pronounce my name from wally to >wall-ee. I hasten to add that I did this only because of the ragging my >son received at school over his name; so when he changed schools it was >natural to get over the problem by simply saying it differently! > >Incidentally, there are far more Whalleys in England than any other >spelling. Walley is the next most popular, with Whaley a distant third. > >Frank Whalley >Penarth, nr Cardiff, Wales, UK Hi Frank... I saved this to answer "later," which is today, I guess! <smile> Pronunciation is so regional, it's small wonder we rarely agree on how to say it, let alone how to spell it! I was visiting friends in Chester, Wales a few years ago, and (as ana aside)he graciously took me up to Whalley Abbey for a visit. My friend called me WALL-ee. Or perhaps WAH-lee... That was the first time I'd heard it pronounced that way. Since he was originally from Lancaster, I might have got most ANY way of saying the name from him, truth be known! 'E murders English as I know it, anyhow! Since my family has always pronounced our name WHAY-lee, I found it most interesting... Since then, I've watched carefully for messages that discuss the way we Whaley/Whalley/Whale/Walley folks pronounce our ancestral names. Even more interesting is the education I get on this list. The longer I belong, the more things I learn. I used to believe any Whaley, so spelled, was from a different branch of the family than a Whalley or especially a Wally! Then I learned how so-called misspellings arise. And that even among contemporary family members, some have chosen, for whatever reason, to spell THEIR family names differently from all the others in their family! All blood relatives, but in a couple of generations most in their family will have forgotten who changed the name and why. So it goes, and the history becomes even more muddied. It's things like that that make genealogy studies so interesting. Many thanks for your input! I look forward to follow-up messages from you and others on this list. Keith Whaley From the early 1600's Vermont, New England and Dale, New York branch of the U.S.-resident Whaleys... Now in Southern California >----Original Message Follows---- >From: cw1210@aol.com >Reply-To: WHALEY-L@rootsweb.com >To: WHALEY-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [WSP] Whaley vs Whalley >Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2006 08:01:14 -0400 > >I've never paid too close attention to the spelling of names. Some of my >Dad's brothers use Burnette and some use Burnett. Some spell their >mother's maiden name Fogel and some spell it Fogle. Other than making for >some difficult times at the funeral homes it's never seemed to make much >difference. > >I did find it interesting though...... My husband and I visited Whalley, >England a few years ago. I had met someone over the internet and arranged >to have her meet us at the train station. We never turned around as she >ran along behind us calling, "Wally, Wally? Are you Wally?" It had never >occurred to me that the pronunciation would be different there. i.e. Wall >ee instead of Whale ee > >Connie Whaley ==== WHALEY Mailing List ==== Whaley Oldest Ancestors List: now online at: http://whaley.phpbbnow.com ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx

Frank Whalley wrote: > I have never been to Whalley in Lancashire, England, but I have been to > Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, England. There, the pronunciation is > definitely WAY-lee. I've written it purposely without the 'h', because > if the 'h' is pronounced I have difficulty hearing it. I think those folks say Derbyshire as DARBY-sh'r, anyhow, so who listens? <g> > I've also been to Manchester, which used to be in Lancashire before the > bureacrats messed about with the counties, and there is a suburb there > called Whalley Range, definitely pronounced Wolly, or Wally if you > prefer that spelling. To try and be clear, let's say it rhymes with > Polly, as in Polly Wolly Doodle. > > So this is my experience of what we have in England: > Whalley, Walley are pronounced to rhyme with Polly, everywhere except > near to the village of Whalley in Lancashire, where it is pronounced > WALL-ee, rhyming with Warley. > Whaley is pronounced WAY-lee, to rhyme with daily (i.e. every day). > In all cases, if the 'h' is aspirated, it is done very minimally. > > Frank Most interesting, Frank. I can only add that when the question arises (and it does more often than one might imagine!) I ask the questioner to pronounce the big fish's name ~ Whale. Certainly almost everyone is familiar with pronouncing that word. So, when they do, I ask them to add a Y at the end and pronounce it again. Whale-y. They rarely forget... In print, I'd often spell it WHAY-lee, to help out. On the other hand, you're totally right. Most of the time everybody pronounces it WAY-lee. Close enough for me... keith whaley So. Cal. ~ USA

Frank Whalley wrote: [snipped] Frank, and whomever: At the bottom of that August '06 message I just snipped and most others recently, it shows: > ==== WHALEY Mailing List ==== > Whaley Oldest Ancestors List: now online at: http://whaley.phpbbnow.com This does NOT get one to a Whaley Oldest Ancestors List, so far as I've been able to determine. If someone knows what I've been doing wrong, I'd really appreciate it, 'cause I can't find it anymore! Thanks, keith whaley