How to Pronounce Common Last Names American English 2 of 2

this is the second half of the 20 most

popular last names in America number 11

Anderson Anderson begins with the word

and in iepa and is spelled with the as

in bat sound but I find that it and here

in Anderson the ass is not quite as

sharp the mouth doesn’t open quite as

wide for this sound Anderson and now the

second two syllables are both unaccented

and again they kind of slide by without

pure vowels Anderson Anderson Anderson

number 12

Thomas spelled with a th but pronounced

as a t-thomas thomas with the aw as in

law vowel number 13 Jackson now this one

does have a very pure at as in bat jaw

Jack son Jackson Jackson number 14 white

just like number 5 brown the name of a

color white your lips have to start very

small in that little circle to make the

proper W sound white I as in buy white

number 15 Harris Harris starts with an

age which I know for some speakers in

particular people whose native languages

French the H can be a difficult sound

the next letter a is followed by an art

and that art does change the color of a

it becomes an air as in Barre Harris now

the second and unaccented syllable here

actually does take on an e as in sit

vowel it’s not one of these unaccented

syllables that has no pure vowel Harris

yes as in yes

Harris number 16 Martin this starts with

a hmm which opens up into the ah as in

father which transforms then rather

quickly into the ER as in run Mar Mar

the next letter is a teeth however it’s

not pronounced as it or really as a

death which it sometimes is rather its

function is more as a stop Mart so the

tongue comes up into the position for

the D which is this part of the tongue

touching the roof of the mouth here

behind the teeth Mart hmm and then your

tongue is pretty much in position for

the MM consonant sound Martin Maher mmm

Martin so you can see here the T is not

really pronounced but rather acts as a

stop number 17 Thompson just like Thomas

it spells the th but is pronounced

Thompson it has the aw as in law into

the mm soon soon

again the unaccented syllable not having

much of a pure vowel Thompson number 18

Garcia this is the first of the Spanish

language names if your native language

is Spanish you should of course

pronounce it as you would however these

names have been Americanized and take on

the American pronunciation when

non-native speakers are saying these

names Garcia

gar starts the same way as Mar as in

Martin the gut goes into a very quick aw

as in father which then quickly slides

into the ER as in run gar si Garcia

so the second syllable is emphasized

this T is pronounced as a

and the eye has that sharp E as in she

sound then tapering off into the schwa

Garcia number 19 another Spanish name

Martinez again we’ve got this R sound in

the first syllable Mar Martinez again

it’s the middle syllable that is

emphasized and so that does have a sharp

e as in she sound Martinez as the air as

in bed

closing off into the voiced sound

Martinez

number 20 Robinson the vowel in the

first syllable aw as in law Robinson and

the second two unaccented syllables

again not having much of a cure vowel

Robinson going more into the N than

having a vowel on its own Robinson those

are the 20 most common last names in the

United States