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