Next names: Franklin Ottarson (19th-c journalist) -- do we think it's "oh-tar-son" or "ah-tar-son" Evelyn Gendel (20th-c editor/cookbook writer) -- is it a hard g or a soft g? Charles Boster (19th-c New Orleans restaurateur) -- pronounced French (Boast-ay)? English (boss-ter)? - ThreadSky

rachelcleves.bsky.social • 75 days ago

Next names:

Franklin Ottarson (19th-c journalist) -- do we think it's "oh-tar-son" or "ah-tar-son"

Evelyn Gendel (20th-c editor/cookbook writer) -- is it a hard g or a soft g?

Charles Boster (19th-c New Orleans restaurateur) -- pronounced French (Boast-ay)? English (boss-ter)?

Reposted from Rachel Hope Cleves

I have a list of words and names that I need to figure out the pronunciation of for the audiobook narrator of Lustful Appetites. There are a bunch for which I have no idea. Help????

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mollykatebritton.bsky.social•75 days ago

These ones are from etymology rather than anecdote:
Ottarson would likely be ah-tar-son given his NY origins
Gendel would def have a hard G as it's Jewish (see Hendel, Engel, Mendel)
Boster would probably have the French inflection as that would be more common in the area

rachelcleves.bsky.social•75 days ago

This matches my inclinations, but how do we know for sure 🤷‍♀️

mollykatebritton.bsky.social•75 days ago

Unfortunately we can't know for sure, unless they have any relatives knocking around today(?). The only one I'm certain on is Gendel because of the Ashkenazic origins - that's the *only* way they would pronounce it. The others, it's safer to go on name trends at the time.

mollykatebritton.bsky.social•75 days ago

In the eras and areas indicated, 'ah' would be the more common pronunciation for NY at the time, and the French inflection would be more popular, and was actually an indicator of class in that area/era.

mollykatebritton.bsky.social•75 days ago

The New Orleans one is a bit clearer - if you lived in that area, at that time, and had a surname that you could make, essentially, sound more French, you would, given the historically French upper class. It's an attitude that still exists today.

thedenature.bsky.social•75 days ago

I always thought Boster was "Boast-er," but I've only encountered it in print, in the name of historian Dea Boster, so I'm hardly an authority.

limerickslife.com•75 days ago

I was thinking more Otter, as in the animal, son for the first. Soft g for the second. With it being New Orleans Boast-ay for the third

rachelcleves.bsky.social•75 days ago

I'm with you on Otter and Boast-ay, but I think it's a hard G on Gendel.

limerickslife.com•75 days ago

Names are so much fun! We pronounce O'Mahony and Cahill very differently here in Ireland than they are in the US. It has led to some confusion

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