This is very interesting to me, Frank, because I have a "brick wall" in my Whaley research. It gives new incentive to look into other spellings, though of course I already have as much as I had thought possible. But the "o" is a new one to me, AND the "wally" pronunciation as opposed to whale-y. Thanks for the tip. Beverly Graham (granddaughter of Jesse Monroe Whaley, whose father was supposedly Will or Tom Whaley...no proofs) On 7/11/06, Frank Whalley <frankwhalley@hotmail.com> 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 > > > ----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 > ________________________________________________________________________ > Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and > IM. All on demand. Always Free. > > > ==== WHALEY Mailing List ==== > Having problems with your subscription? Contact list administrator at > whaley-admin@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > > > ==== WHALEY Mailing List ==== > Wish to post from more than one address? Contact list administrator at > whaley-admin@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > -- Bev Graham Bethany, OK