LL-L "Names" 2009.07.12 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 July 2009 - Volume 04
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Etymology

From: R. F. Hahn
<sassisch at yahoo.com<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com>
>
Subject: Traditions

P.S.: I had a real Hahn day today. ... Hahn seems to be percentage-wise far
more common here in the US than in Germany. And practically everyone here
pronounces it correctly (unlike in Australia).

They get it wrong in Australia? Hahn Ice was a particularly popular beer
when I lived there, and there is a Hahnsdorf in South Australia.

Unless I've got it wrong; I've always assumed the central vowel was a bit
like the long "a" in Standard British English "farm" (we don't sound the "r"
of course).  Or actually more like the Australian pronunciation of "farm", a
bit more front-vowel.

Paul
Derby
England

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From: R. F. Hahn
<sassisch at yahoo.com<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com>
>
Subject: Names

Hi, Paul!

I lived in Western Australia where most people pronounced Hahn to rhyme with
"ban". I didn't spend enough time in South Australia and on the East Coast
to study the "situation" there.

Your pronunciation is "correct". It predominates here in the US. The only
people that mispronounce it are fairly new immigrants from countries in
which the name and its pronunciation is unknown. The name is well enough
known here that nobody ever asks me how to pronounce it, and, as I
mentioned, they pronounce it correctly. Most people have known someone with
that name, and it occurs in the news occasionally, e.g.

   - Billy Hahn (basketball coach)
   - Dave Hahn (mountaineer and journalist)
   - David Hahn (cartoonist)
   - Erwin Hahn (physicist)
   - Hilary Hahn (violinist)
   - James K. Hahn (mayor of Los Angeles 2001-2005, Janice's brother)
   - Janice Hahn (Los Angeles council member, James K.'s sister)
   - Jessica Hahn (celebrity, nude model, and church secretary, of Clinton
   infamy)
   - Kenneth (Kenny) Hahn (member of the Los Angeles County Board of
   Supervisors, not related to James K. and Janice)
   - Kimberly Hahn (Catholic author and apologist, married to Scott)
   - Scott Hahn (convert Catholic author and apologist, married to Kimberly)

Non-Americans with which many Americans are familiar:

   - Carl Wilhelm Hahn (German zoologist)
   - Hans Hahn (Austrian mathematician)
   - Hans "Assi" Hahn (German WW II master pilot)
   - Otto Hahn (chemist, Nobel Prize winner)
   - Philipp Matthäus Hahn (German priest and inventor)
   - Reynaldo Hahn (Venezuelan composer of Jewish-German and Basque descent,
   naturalized French citizen, lover of Marcel Proust [who once said,
   "Everything I have ever done has always been thanks to Reynaldo."])

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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