One of the most perplexing things travelers in Britain can come across is how to properly pronounce the place names in Britain. Places that have the same name in somewhere like the USA or Australia, will be pronounced completely different in the UK. We posted a handy chart for London pronunciations a few weeks ago and it was very popular, so we thought we’d create one for the rest of the UK. See the London Chart here.
This is by no means an exhaustive list – there are plenty of those out there. We’ve kept the list focused on popular places that Americans would be likely to visit and also places that are particularly indecipherable to an American tongue. There are also local pronunciations that will differ – we’ve tried to focus on how anyone in Britain would say it based on convention.
This list is a ‘living’ page so feel free to add your own places and pronunciations in the comments and we’ll keep adding them to this list.
- Alciston, East Sussex – Aston
- Alfriston, East Sussex – All-Friston
- Allerton, Bradford, West Yorkshire – Ollerton
- Alnmouth – Allenmouth
- Alnwick (Northumberland) – Anic
- Althorp (where Princess Diana is buried) The village is pronounced Olthorpe but the House is pronounced Orltrop (notice the reversal of the O and the R!)
- Ansty, West Sussex An-Sty
- Ardingly (Sussex) – Ardingl-eye
- Bamburgh (Northumberland) – Bambruff or Bambro?
- Beaconsfield – Bekonsfield
- Beaulieu – Bewley
- Bedworth – Bedduth
- Belvoir – Beever
- Berwick on Tweed – Berik on Tweed
- Bicester – Bister
- Boughton, Lincolnshire – Bootun
- Brough, East Yorkshire – Bruff
- Burpham, Surrey or West Sussex Ber-Fam
- Chippenham (see comments at top of page) – Chipnam (locally) Sent by Ann Cook Chipenum – James Bruton
- Chiswick, London – Chizzik
- Cholmondeston, Cheshire – Chumston
- Cholmondley – Chumly
- Edinburgh – Edinboro or Edinburah (just NOT Edinburg)
- Eltham, SE London – El-tum
- Etchilhampton (near Devizes Wilts) – Eyeshalton
- Fowey (Cornwall) Foy
- Frome – Froom
- Gillingham, Kent – Jillingham
- Gillingham, Norfolk & Dorset – Gillingham (hard sounding “g” as in girl)
- Gotham, Nottinghamshire – Goat’am
- Glasgow – Glazga
- Gloucester – Gloster
- Greenwich – Grenich
- Grosmont, North Yorkshire – Grow-mont
- Grosvenor – Grovenor
- Harrogate – Harrowget
- Hastings, Sussex – Haystings
- Holborn, Central London – Hoe-burn
- Hunstanton (Norfolk) – Hunston
- Keswick, Cumbria, England – Kezik
- Kettering (Northamptonshire)Ke’-rin – Apostrophe indicated glottal stop
- Launceston (UK) – Lawnston
- Leadenham, Lincolnshire – Led’nam
- Leicester – Lester
- Leominster – Lemster
- Lewes, East Sussex – Loowis
- Mildenhall (Wilthsire) – Minal (to rhyme with spinal)
- Milton Keynes – Milton Keens
- Mousehole, Cornwall – Mowzel
- Norwich – NORRich
- Penistone – Penny -stun
- Plymouth – Plimuth
- Ruislip – Ryeslip
- Salisbury, England – Sawlsbry
- Scone, Perth, Scotland – Skoon
- Shrewsbury – Shrowsberry
- Slough – Slow (to rhyme with how/now)
- Southwark – Suthuk
- Truro, Cornwall – Tru-row
- Warwick – Warrick
- Welwyn – Wellin
- Weymouth, Dorset – Waymuth
- Worcester – Wooster (as in Bertie Wooster)
Do you have any other places you’d like to see on the list? Leave them in the comments below!
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Keighley in Yorkshire – pronounced Keithlee
Findochty in Moray Scotland pronounced Finnecktee
I found ‘Keighley’ on a world atlas, and, assuming it was pronounced ‘Kay’ lee’, named my youngest daughter after the town…..;-) I found out years later how it was pronounced in England. How do you get ‘Keith’ out of ‘Keigh’?
Same way you get “f” out of cough, possibly. 😉
I was about the say thing Gloria – guess why??? Elise – the word “Thoroughly’ might give you the answer;the suffix ‘ghly’ [with or without the ‘e’] give the ‘th’ sound – hence it is not Keith – lee’ – it’s ‘Key -thly’ – hope this helps.
Edinburgh is never, but never ‘Edinboro’ but ‘Edinburu (short ‘u’)’ or ‘Embru’ ‘Strathavon’ is ‘Straven’., ‘Avoch’ is ‘Och’, ‘Anstruther is ‘Anster’ and, my personal favourite, ‘Aberchirder’ is pronounced ‘Foggy’.
I have been going to Hunstanton since I was a little girl and I have never heard it pronounced Hunston. It is pronounced as it is spelled. Also Glasgow is pronounced Glasgoe .. maybe Scottish people pronounce it differently?
I agree I lived near Hunstanton and yes pronounced as it is spelt :0
I lived in Hunstanton in the 1950s and certainly then some local people called it Hunston – maybe it’s just an old pronunciation that’s died out.
i am from sheringham norfolk
Islay, both the isle and the whisky
Wrotham Kent. – Root ham
Meopham (Kent) – Mepp’um
Wrotham (Kent) – Root’um
Trottiscliffe (Kent) – locals call this Trosley
Ightham (Kent) – Eyetum
Dodworth; Cudworth (both in S Yorks) – locals… Dodduth; Cudduth
If you’re local, Hastings, Sussex is pronounced ay-stins, not sounding the H or G…
oohh yes as a Dutchman who regular goes to the National Tramway museum, I always hear different ways to pronounce the towns name “CRICH” I mostly hear: craitch, or even croitch, but it is absolute not krik, what they suggest in London…..
Cry-ch
I think some of these are in Wales, but I would love a phonetic pronunciation for them because know I am mangling them badly when I try to pronounce them. Llanfarian, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Caernarfon, Gwynedd.
I found this not long ago (I’ve been practicing before I visit). It isn’t really that difficult–the rules are pretty consistent. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Welsh/Pronunciation
Ceredigion = cardigan like the button up jumper
caernarfon = car nar von
Aberystwyth = Aber wrist with
gwynedd = gw in edd
Well done on most of these, esp. the ‘Althorp’ variations….but Kettering?, I can tell you it’s pronounced ‘Kettrin’.by locals & non locals alike. (Also ‘Solsberry’ for Salisbury, not ‘Sawlsbury’ unless spoken by a true tosser) JMHO. 🙂
Salisbury as ‘sorsberry’ & Marborough ‘morbra’ instead of ‘maarl-borough’ are indicators of being of a certain age and education and mark one out not as a tosser, i would hope, but just a dinosaur. (goes with pronouncing often as ‘offen’)
Cuckfield Sussex my home village is pronounced Cookfield 🙂
Norfolk, Suffolk… here in the States people say “Nor-folk”, where in England, they pronounce it “Nor-fuk” and “Suf-fuk”…which always made me laugh because I thought people were swearing 😉
Well C.S.Janey it is our country and you lot naff up most things, how the ek do you get Marsha out of Marcia?
Hey, I’ve always made sure to learn to pronounce things the correct way, not just the way Americans do in general. Lol. But I’m not sure on Marsha…I would pronounce Marcia “mar-see-uh”…not Marsha. 🙂
I AM FROM RICHMOND, VA AND NORFOLK, VA WAS ALWAYS PRONOUNCED AS NOR-FUK!! I LIVED IN CHISWICK, LONDON AND HAD FORGOTTEN HOW IT WAS PRONOUNCED KIZZIK.
Any place named after Samuel Pepys pronounced “Peeps”.
All mine are Scottish because that’s where I lived! Kirkcudbright = Kir-COO-bree. Milngavie = Mill-GUY. Strathaven = Stray-ven. Culzean- Cull-ayn.
Ulgham, Northumberland – pronounced Uff’m
Reading – Reding
Uttoxeter – Uxeter
Wycombe – Wickum
Milngavie – Mullguy
Towcester -> Toaster
Pennycuick – Penny cook
Ely – Eeli
I loved living in Ely!
Masham (North Yorkshire) – pronounced Massam
Not to do with this post,but is there a book that states old English names such as basset hoo etc
Rugeley, Staffordshire = Rougelee or Rudgelee, depending on who you ask… 🙂
Kirkcudbright, Scotland pronounced kirr-koo-bree. Ewell, Surrey pronounced yule.
Harwich, Essex pronounced harr-itch
Surely more like “Harridge” ..?
… or even ” ‘Arridge” as in the Legendary “Arijaba” which turned out to be “Harwich Harbour” … which is now known anyway as “Parkston Quay ” ..!
… erm … “Quay” is of course pronounced “Key” and not “Kway” …
OMG this is endless ! 🙂
Potrsmouth = Portsmuth
Or as it was named by the Royal Navy, Pompey.
No other way of saying it….Pompey
Glasgow should have read Glesga, but only for some. An interesting one on the outskirts of the city is Milngavie pronounced Mill-guy.
Milngavie … Pronounced Mull-Guy
Acton Beauchamp – pronounced “Act-on Bee-chum” in Hertfordshire
Edinburgh is NEVER pronounced “Edinboro”. Ever. And Glasgow might be pronounced “Glesga” or “Glesgay” but not “Glasga”.
How about the following?
Cheltenham
Chelmsford
Lowestoft
I am beginning to enjoy reading all these unusual (at least to me) British city/town names.
I live near Cheltenham and I say “Cheltenum”.
I’ve always pronounced as Chelt num
Chelmsford is pretty much how it looks, except that there’d be more emphasis on the “chelms” than on the “ford”, so I suppose a bit more Chelmsfud.
Lowestoft is almost “lower stoft”.
I thought Islay was pronounced “EYE-la,” but then I’m Canadian. And my in-law who comes from Edinburgh pronounces it “EDin-bruh.”
Bibury, Gloucestershire (Cotswolds) – By-bury
any suggestions for Cirencester??
Sernster
Siren-sester grew up there
Sis sis ter? An Englishman from Surry told me that was how he pronounced it.
Cheltenham – Chelt-num, Cirencester – Siren-sester
We locals call it “Siren” for short.
How is Newark promounced? Phonetic symbols would be a lot of help.
Can’t do phonetic symbols I’m afraid, but I think “Newuk” is a good approximation.
New ack
New -uk gives too much emphasisi on the short “u”, I think.
New-ack gives too much emphasis on the short “a”.
It is almost a short “e” sound, New-erk, but don’t make the “er” too pronouunced, like you are unsure about something “errr”. 🙂
It almost has an absence of a vowel there in the way that we say it (not far from newark).
I don’t know the proper symbols, I am afraid.
We tend to shorten “ham” at the end of town names to “um”. So Birmingham is pronounced “Birmingum” and Gillingham is “Jillingum”.
How about WYMONDHAM in Norfolk? Pronounced Windum
…yet the Wymondham in Leicestershire is pronounced as it is spelt.
Leominster = Lemster
Derby = Darby
Berkeley = Barklay
Bamburgh – Bam-bruh
Flitwick – Flit-ick
Luton – Loo-tun – actually as someone who grew up in the town, there is no “t” in Luton, so Loo-un
Wymondham in Norfolk. It is pronounced Windum
there is no “standard” pronunciation for place names really. there are some places with the same name but, depending on whereabouts in the country they are, they can be pronounced differently.
and Loughborough is Luffbru or Luffboro
Luffboro???? More like Luffb-ra
Eaglesham, Scotland – Eagles-ham
Happisburg Norfolk Hazeburra
Where my wife is from there is a town close them spelled Aldeburgh and it is pronounced All-brah
Didn’t know could be this tough.
Woolfardisworthy = Wolsery
I’d love to see some of Lancaster..
River Ouse in Lincolnshire..pronounced Ooze.
Wymondham and Happisburgh both in Norfolk. Pronounced windum and haysbrough.
Another in Norfolk is Stiffkey pronounced Stukey
Trying to catch a train from London back to Banbury. No one could tell me where to go, cause here, it’s pronounced Ban-brie, instead of Ban-burry. I had to point it out on a train schedule.
On the train, the guard might announce Tru-row indeed, but within Cornwall, most just seem to call it Trura. 😀
York is more like Yaahk to its locals.
Slaithwaite pronounced either slath-wait, or if you’re really local sla-wit
Bosham in West Sussex is pronounced…. Bozzum
Trottiscliffe – Kent, pronounced “Trosley”
Bwlch in Wales is “bull-ccchhhh”
Torpenhow, in Cumbria, pronounced: Tropp-Enna
Carlisle, also in Cumbria, pronounced: Car-Lie-Ell
I had to smile when I read Salisbury… When I was a student in England, I used to travel a lot with a friend, every weekend we went to different places. One day, we wanted to visit Salisbury and Stonehenge and hat to change trains somwhere on the way (I think it actually was in Slough 😉 ). We asked the guy at the train station where we had to go to get the train to Salisbury (pronounced it something like “Sailsbury” or so) and he was like “What, where you want to go?” We were quite puzzled and he was laughing his bum off. He then went “Oh, you mean Sooolsbury?” – and we were having a good laugh and a running joke for the next few days.
It is pronounce ‘shrews’ bury! Not shrowsbury! I live in shrewsbury, an for some strange reason people who dont think its pronounced shrowsbury, from its original name, in 400ad of shrosenbury!
I was visiting the UK in 1979 and was asked by a train conductor my destination. I told him ‘shrews’ bury. When he called the station, he said ‘shrows’ bury.
It isn´t hard it’s only the people trying to be posh or complete outsiders that don’t know any different (and basically can’t read) that pronounce it Shrowsbury. The locals and “normal” people call it “Shrews bury” as in a few Shrews the little mouse like thing and Bury like the place.
Wrotham – Kent…………Rootum
Beaminster -Dorset ……..Bemster
Trottiscliffe Kent …………..Trosley
Sowerby Bridge (Halifax) pronounced Soreby bridge
Shrewsbury: is pronounced as it is spelt, There is no O. Most locals drop the R and say shewsbury.
Nonsense, Shrewsbury has always been pronounced Shrowsbury, and I was born and brought up there. It was only during the influx of people from west midlands county during the 70s and 80s that they started to pronounce it (incorrectly) as it’s spelt
Forget the w in place names ending in -wich
Forget the c in place names ending in -cester
Silent h in placenames ending in -ham
u for the geographical ending -mouth : Plymouth
literally thank you so much
Not always. Northwich is pronounced with a “w”…
Southwick and Bulwick in Northamptonshire – Southick and Bullick
Mytholmroyd – the first time I tried to pronounce this my Yorkshire boyfriend at the time took a lot of pleasure telling me how wrong I was
Bellingham – Bellingjem
Cirenchester
Visited a friend in Folkestone…was quickly corrected after saying Folk-stone. He told me its pronounced Folk-stun.
Holborn has no “r” sound … it’s more like “HO’bun”
Marylebone is “Marlbun” or even “Mol’bun” not to be confused with:
Malvern which is “Mol’vun”
Chichester – the “i” is short, as in “if”, not long as in “eye” …
and of course :
Horsted Keynes is “Canes” and Milton Keynes is “Keens” …
🙂
I did a double-take the first time I heard “Altrincham” pronounced. Al-tring-ehm. Makes no sense to me.
Kirkcudbright in Scotland
Bedworth is pronounced as it’s spelt, unless you come from it. I was born and grew up in the other half of the borough and I never heard it called Bedduth unless I went to it. Edinburgh is NEVER pronounced Edinboro except by Americans who haven’t previously been told how to say it.
So is it more like Edin-burah?
How about
Ackney – Hackney
Redding – Reading
Cirencester, please? Can’t figure that one out despite riding the bus over there – announcement was unintelligible 🙂
I heard an American at a station pronounce Loughborough as ‘Looga-barooga’.
Never fails to make me smile 🙂
The correct pronunciation is ‘Luff-burra’.
My home village was Yeaveley
tongue twister for you all
pronounced yeev-lee 🙂
Why do so many people in the US pronounce Wimbledon “Wimbleton”?
Southwell (Nottm) is pronounced Suth-all.
Folks have to remember that it all depends on accent as to the pronunciation.
Bellingham – Bellingjam.
I have never heard Bamburgh (in Northumberland) pronounced as Bam-bruff! It’s Bam-burra!
The pretty village of Leigh pronounced Lie
Carlisle – Car lile, Longtown (north of Carlisle) Longtoon, Barrow-in-Furness – Barra, places where I was born and brought up. oop north like. When Cumbria was better known as Kumberland!
Greenwich is generally pronounced ‘Grenitch’ even by Londoners, but I now work in the area and it is usually pronounced ‘Grinidge’ by locals. There is a town called Meols near Liverpool, which should be pronounced ‘Mells’. My favourite though, is a road junction in Birkenhead called ‘Charing Cross’ but pronounced with a long ‘ar’ sound as in ‘spar’. When I moved to London I was teased incessantly for pronouncing it like that, as the station in London is said ‘Charring Cross’ as in ‘chariot’!
Wymondham (Norfolk) is pronounced Windham but the same spellin for a village in Leicestershire is pronounced Wy-mond-ham
Ravenstonedale, Cumbria, pronounced Rissendle.
Wideopen or Wide Open, Northumberland, pronounced Widdap’n
Gateacre in Liverpool = Gattaca (like the film)
Got one for you…just mispronounced on BBC News…. Caldmore, near Walsall……is….. Kar-ma… As in “Calmer”
Brougham – Broom although I have heard it pronounced Broam.
Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire is pronounced as Bee Vee
Brewood Staffordshire pronounced Brood.
Well you might try these
Ipswich IPS- WITCH, Norwich NOR- IDGE, Greenwich GREN- IDGE,Dulwich DUL -IDGE why WICH is pronounced differently I dont know
Stranreea…..correct Stranraer!
Try Slaithwaite. Local pronunciation is Slowit or Slawit (Slough-it).
Some Londn areas cause confusion.
Clapham = Clappem
Thornton Heath = Fort neef.
How about writing in all capitals where the stress of the syllable is? A few of the names I’m uncertain of the stress, though most are on the first I believe.
Rothwell, Northamptonshire- Rowell
How about Plumstead?
Cogenhoe, Northamptonshire – Cookno
Clitheroe , Lancashire
I’ve always wondered about Marylebone – any advice? I come across it in my reading but don’t know how to say it.
It’s Marlybone. Just move the Y over a space. That makes perfect sense, right??
Horsted Keynes in Sussex is different from Milton Keynes. Horsted is “Canes”.