How to Pronounce Common Last Names American English

today I’m going to go over the 20 most

common last names in America the number

one most common last name is Smith Smith

begins and ends with unvoiced consonants

and in-between the M into the e as in

sit myth Smith I’ve noticed for people

whose native language is Spanish and

probably for other languages as well

it’s difficult to say any word that

begins with an S without saying a vowel

in front of it for example instead of

Smith I sometimes hear is Smith now the

S is unvoiced at the beginning of Smith

which means with the vocal cords no

sound is being made so if you start with

an S you’re starting with a vowel which

means you’re making sound with your

vocal cords so if you think of trying to

start without making any sound

whatsoever hmm then with that M sound

letting your vocal chords work that

might help the second name Johnson jus

going into the AH as in father even

though it is spelled with an O H ja ja

Johnson Johnson the last syllable which

is unaccented Tsun Tsun is basically an

S straight into the N sin soon there is

a little bit of a schwa thrown in there

in the middle

Johnson Johnson number three Williams

Williams starts with the W which is

difficult sometimes for people whose

native language is not English Siri lips

have to start in that really small

position Williams Williams

Liam’s so the first eye is an it as in

sit and the second is an E as in she

Williams

Jones Jones like Johnson starts with

this sound Jones it then has the Oh as

in no diphthong and notice that the S at

the end is voiced Jones Jones number

four

brown brown has the ow as in now

diphthong brown brown brown number six

Davis Davis has a second syllable this

that begins with the V sound

now when an unaccented syllable is

starting with this sound in particular

it’s difficult I think for non-native

speakers to hear Davis Davis do here hmm

there’s not really a sharp mmm sound in

there Davis but if you watch my lip you

will see that it does come up to make

that position it’s just a quick little

flick Davis and my vocal cords are

continuing to make sound but it’s really

more of that than a mmm Davis that has

the ay as in say Dave this with a schwa

in the second syllable Davis Miller the

first syllable has an e as in sit no and

it ends in an L and when it ends in an L

that is considered a dark L which means

we kind of slide through an a sound

before we finish it off with the L

nil-nil and the second unaccented

syllable is simply a a Miller

Miller number 8 Wilson now again the

first syllable here ends with an L so we

start with the way but then we have to

go into a before we close it off to the

OL will will will Wilson and the

unaccented syllable sin sin again almost

without a vowel Wilson number 9 more now

this is spelled n oo r e but it has the

same pronunciation as the word more as

in more and less more it has the Oh as

in no diphthong more more number 10

Taylor Taylor has the ay as in say

diphthong and the second syllable ler

ler again without a real pure vowel

sound in there Taylor Taylor Taylor the

second half of these 20 names will come

in another blog entry soon