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