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