To pronounce this street correctly

My late DM was born in De Beauvoir town, the family always pronounced it De Bow-veor. Not Beever and certainly not in the French way.
I still find it difficult to say it any other way, and particularly not Beevuh which is a fairly recent appropriation of the way the name is pronounced by poshos, especially people whose own surname is Beauvoir.
I think it separates us regular old Londoners from the arrivistes. (I too am a Cockernee.)

We absolutely need to know what name it is to be able to judge. Honestly, OP, no one will track you down if you just tell us…

I live near a ‘Cowper Road’ - it’s in an area where all the streets are named after English poets (Tennyson, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Milton etc) so should technically be pronounced ‘Cooper’, as that’s how the poet William Cowper pronounced his name.

But William Cowper isn’t particularly well-known anymore, and hardly anyone knows that’s how it’s supposed to be pronounced, so everyone pronounces it ‘Cow-puh Road.’ You’d get a lot of blank looks if you asked for directions to ‘Cooper Road.’

The local pronunciation over time becomes the correct pronunciation.

Not heard of that one so not sure if it’s local to Southampton 🤣

Don’t know why, i am not from the area and just saw it written down and read bwah. 🤷‍♀️

I always remember a TV 'personality' with Welsh heritage but I gather is very much not a Welsh speaker (and who lives in England - maybe has done her whole life?) 'correcting' somebody who pronounced Plaid Cymru correctly, by insisting that the first word should be pronounced to rhyme with 'scythe', as though it were 'Plaidd'.

I agree it's horribly arrogant and often nasty when (usually thick) people try to gaslight you that you are wrong, when it's clearly them. I get it completely when English speakers don't know how to pronounce a word, or can't replicate a specifically Welsh sound; but to mock and insist that such a sound or pronunciation doesn't exist makes them sound like the stupidest person ever.

The one that always baffles me is Llandudno - where people will have a token go at the 'Ll' sound, but then merrily dismiss the other two vowel sounds, even when they've been told. If an English speaker can say the English words 'did' and 'not', they can pronounce the second and third syllables of Llandudno correctly.

Belvoir street in Leicester has similar issue. Pronounced Beaver.

I’ve lived in a street for 30 years with a weird name which does not sound as it is spelled. Every. Single. Time. I say the address, be it to deliverers, taxi drivers, friends, over the phone, I say it, spell it and say where it is.
Its still grating three decades later.

Wisbech is another great place.

I use to live in a Knypersley Road. Bought the house on auction and didn’t know how to pronounce it until we mover in and asked a local.

Beaulieu in Chelmsford is the one I’m thinking of. Pronounced Bewlee. In my head it’s Beau lieu with the French pronunciation (ain’t that beautiful a place…)

The company always used to pronounce their name as High-un-die in the UK, until recently. Now they're claiming that WE got it wrong!

Same with Nestle, who used to pronounce their name as Ness-uhlls in their British adverts in decades gone by!

I think she was explaining how Wycombe was spelt, not pronounced.

Put it in Google maps and see what she says. If Google agrees with the locals, go with the locals. If Google agrees with North American pronunciation, use that for non-locals and the other for locals.

I live in a city in the West of England, which I also prefer not to out, and have endless trouble like this. There's one place in particular which to me quite clearly should start with a sh- sound but is locally known with a s- sound instead, and I can't get it right and everyone laughs at me.

How is this life and death for you, though?

It is pronounced High Wickham. I'm really confused by who thinks it's pronounced differently

I have been corrected for my pronunciation of Welsh names in the thousands. By non Welsh speakers. When I explain that Welsh is my first language people laugh. If any other language was treated with such disdain they would be called racist. But Welsh is considered a joke.

In Oxford we pronounce Magdalen different to the rest of the country too.... gets people confused

Why do you think they are wrong? Do you think the residents of Beaulieu and Towcester are wrong too?

I'm glad you posted though. I've never known how to pronounce it.

Is that the one that's a couple of miles down the road from Borchthold Valley - pronounced 'Butt-head'?

Exactly, I thought it was pronounced High Wickham!

I'm a bit confused by that one too!

HIGNFY last week was presented by American Roy Wood Jr and he got confused by Wycombe being pronounced as WICK-uhm and not as WHY-cuhm!

I haven’t read the full thread so this may have already been mentioned, my apologies for repeating if it has.
There’s a lovely historic town near where I live where streets and places are named after famous events and people. One of the roads is Pepys Street, after the diarist Samuel Pepys who had a strong connection with the town. Locally is it, and always has been, called Peppies Street. It’s actually quite charming and fits the local accent very well.
There are times where being pedantic might be appropriate. I would gently suggest that this isn’t one of those times. Do what the locals do and use their pronunciation.

My ILs used to live near Theydon Bois (NE London)/Essex border, and called its Theydon ‘boys’ whereas I would have said it with French pronunciation - bwah. I still think they’re wrong but I had to change and call it Theydon boys or they would mock me. Just do whatever you need to do to get your deliveries to the correct address!

@wherethestreetshaveasillyname I'd do this: "The address is Illinois St and I'm going to spell that for you." Get the "spelling" thing in before anyone can begin to question or knit their eyebrows.

Years ago, my girlfriend's granny used to go to The Orion bingo club. Not exactly outing myself there - it'll be dust now, and I'm sure there were hundreds of them. Making conversation, I said, "Do you go to the o-RI-on, then?" She looked aghast and replied, "Well, I've never heard it called that! Do you mean the O-rion?"

As they say, if a person mispronounces a word, it's because they've only read it - which is a good thing. Another girlfriend (I've had two! At least!) laughed her head off when I mispronounced "antithesis" in a fairly obvious way.

Ever been to Mousehole? I got some mad looks there.

There's also a blackman (one word) road that everyone pronounced black man road. Didn't even register it wa done word until I was an adult haha.