Pronouncing our names in Italian. What's yours?

[Graffeo]

I have really never heard my surname,Graffeo, pronounced by an Italian. We always used the American pronunciation:

We prounounced it:
Graf as in graph, 'e' as in eagle, 'o' as in go.
The accent was on the first syllable.

But after checking out some web sites where the Sicilian dialect was explained I think the correct way to say it is:
Gra, as in graw, fe rhymes with day, o sounds like oo as in loose. Accent on the second syllable.

Does this seem right? How about the rest of you? Do you ever pronounce your Italian names correctly? Or is it totally Americanized with no going back now?

[nuccia]

I think its common that most Italian names have been "Americanized" in some way or another...I know people who had the name of Riccio who changed it to Rich and somehow my last name has been changed to Angelo..makes it difficult to track down relatives!

At one time no real paperwork was needed to change your surname..

As for pronounciation..I always pronounce my surname as it should be said as I was taught by my parents, but lets be realistic...so many different cultures in North America and its just not that easy for most to pronounce names the way they should be. I married a Slovakian man 16 years ago and only recently learned how to correctly pronounce our last name (I use both surnames)...

No different from changing your first name I would think..ie: Vincenzo..Vince, James, Jim, etc.

nuccia

[wldspirit]

My pet peeve....listening to the radio announcer or the television ad mangle my family name........

they pronounce it CUE (as in the game of pool) PEE.

the name is CUPI...... as in KOO PEE......

and don't get me started on the pronunciation of my first name, which is also an Italian surname.........
wldspirit

[Esperanza]

I have really never heard my surname,Graffeo, pronounced by an Italian. We always used the American pronunciation:

We prounounced it:
Graf as in graph, 'e' as in eagle, 'o' as in go.
The accent was on the first syllable.

But after checking out some web sites where the Sicilian dialect was explained I think the correct way to say it is:
Gra, as in graw, fe rhymes with day, o sounds like oo as in loose. Accent on the second syllable.

Does this seem right? How about the rest of you? Do you ever pronounce your Italian names correctly? Or is it totally Americanized with no going back now?

I don't know any Graffeo's nor have I heard it pronounced... but from the spelling alone.. I would pronounce it as

GRUF-FAYE-OH...

[wldspirit]

Will be interesting to see what one of our Italian posters has to say......
I've been studying Italian for some months now........not easy that's for sure.......

Just for fun......here is a site that will pronounce your word for you!!!!
Make sure your volume is up......
wldspirit

http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite ... ample.html

[Marco]

Will be interesting to see what one of our Italian posters has to say......

problem is: how do we write it down? I checked some description of IPA and the three vowels could be described as
a as in cut or cart (short and long)
e as in bed
o as in ball
consonants being mostly the same, except for the r which we do pronounce!
I assume the stroke is on the e, but I can't be sure of that.
Another point is that Grafeo is different from Graffeo, and that Italians can tell double consonants from single one, even if most languages don't.
When I was in the States nobody could pronounce my surname (Bonavoglia), and it was misspelled most of the times; luckily Marco is easy enough
Marco
The above is Italian, my knowledge of Sicilian is much much inferior to that of English or even German or Russian ... and that is saying something!

[elba]

Quote: "I don't know any Graffeo's nor have I heard it pronounced... but from the spelling alone.. I would pronounce it as

GRUF-FAYE-OH..." Quote.

For what it's worth - I would pronounce it like this:

Graff - eh - oh.....

elba

[wldspirit]

Not that it's worth much......I'm still learning......
but I concur with Elba.......and so does Oddcast......
wldspirit

[Graffeo]

Hi all. Thanks for the link to odd cast. So it is Gra-faye-oh. That's a neat site. Who knew? Sorry I did not get back to post sooner but the site was down for a while.

[elba]

Not that it's worth much......I'm still learning......
but I concur with Elba.......and so does Oddcast......
wldspirit

Grazie mille 'wildspirit' - But not to be nosy - 'WHO' is Oddcast?????

elba

[jcsm400]

Hi Elba,

It's a neat site that "wldspirit' provided.................

http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite ... ample.html

Thanks, Lisa........We actually pronouce our surname correctly!

Joyce

[wldspirit]

I can't take credit for the site, it was actually provided to me by
Xaymara, another member of this site.

It is a really neat site though!!!!!!!

Lisa