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