Bathurst to Bolingbroke

The archaic pronunciation of surnames has not always developed at the same pace as our language, and can cause confusion. The table below gives guidance on the pronunciation of a selection of English surnames - establishing the traditional pronunciation of a surname will ensure that you do not cause offence.

Surname Pronunciation
Bathurst Bath-urst ('a' as in 'cat')
Bazalgette Bazl-jet
Beauchamp Beecham
Beauclerk Bo-clare
Beaudesert Bodezair
Beaufort Bo-foot
Beaulieu Bew-ley
Beaumont Bo-mont
Becher Beacher
Bechervaise Besh-er-vayse
Bedingfield Beddingfield
Behrens Barens
Belfast Bel-fast
Bellew Bell-ew
Bellingham Bellingjam or Bellingum
Belvoir Beevor
Bengough Ben-goff
Beresford Berris-fud
Bertie Barti
Betham Bee-tham
Bethune Beaton
Bicester Bister
Blakiston Blackiston
Bledisloe Bledslow
Blenheim Blen-im
Bligh Bly
Blithfield Bliffield
Blois Bloyss
Blomefield Bloomfield
Blount Blunt
Blyth Bly
Boevey Boovey or Buvey (short 'u')
Boleyn Bull-in
Bolingbroke Bulling-brook

 

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