Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name

Subject: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,cube001
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 03:17 PM

OK, so is it pronounced JIL ee un or GIL ee un?

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 03:25 PM

GIL-ee-un.

Very strange name, very strange person.

Murray

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 03:36 PM

Very normal name, very normal pronounciation...

I can't comment on the person in question

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: allanwill
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 04:13 PM

Yeh, it's been a point of contention between me and a mate for some time - I say Jill, he says Gill. I guess she is the only one who knows.

Murray, can you enlighten us on her strangeness? I hate it when I find out someone I admire has certain "ideosyncracies".

Allan

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 04:37 PM

The UK'S have been mispronouncing the name Gillian for years as Jilyan.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 06:20 PM

Allan , I am sorry, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to make any further comment.

I will just say that I have had to bite my tongue hard several times while reading eulogistic comments about certain prominent members of the folk scene. I have been involved in booking many of them in the States, and it was an eye-opener in many ways.

That said, Gillian Welch is undoubtedly supremely gifted both as a singer and a songwriter.

Murray

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Noreen
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 07:01 PM

Dicho, I may gib at what you say- do you drink Gin with your tonic? You may have got the gist of the point I'm trying to make...

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: BanjoRay
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 07:05 PM

I was speaking with John Les, who runs the North Wales bluegrass festival, recently, and we were talking about Gillian Welsh. John told me he met her in the States, and they talked about her name. She said she pronounced it Jillian, so now I do as well.

Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 09:21 PM

Gilbert Gibbon was a gifted giddy gimlet-eyed gimpy gillie who preferred vodka with his tonic.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 11:32 PM

It's "Welch"----like what I might do on a bet. Or like the grape juice.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Noreen
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 06:50 AM

*g(r)in*

www.gillianwelch.com doesn't mention pronunciation...

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: masato sakurai
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 07:27 AM

Gillian has been a guest on A Prairie Home Companion several times, where you can hear how the name is pronounced.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: okthen
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 10:28 AM

Anything that gets your name remembered has to be an asset in the entertainment biz.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:13 PM

Masato and Okthen, do you mean that she mis-pronounces her name on purpose?

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:19 PM

But she doesn't misprounce it...

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:40 PM

There's a great song from Australia's "Waifs"...
Final line with a hard 'G'
"Gillian if you weren't my mother I would make you my wife"

I have a hard 'G' Gillian friend from New Zealand.
I think its geography thing....

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:45 PM

GIOK

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Don Firth
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:56 PM

I know at least two people named James, who do not like to be called "Jim" or "Jimmie." I call them "James." I also know someone whose name is William. He prefers "Will" and does not like to be called "Bill." So I refer to him as "Will." Christine prefers that she be called "Christine," not "Chris," so I call her "Christine."

Although I hear the name "Gillian" more often pronounced with a soft G ("Jillian"), if Gillian Welch prefers her name to be pronounced with a hard G, then that's the way I pronounce it.

It's her name.

Tempest in a teapot. Once the way she wants her name to be pronounced, it would be discourteous, if not downright rude, to insist on pronouncing it differently.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Little Robyn
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 01:26 PM

It's not a geographical thing - we had both a Gillian and a Jillian at school when I was a kid.
It's up to their parents, both pronunciation and spelling.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 01:28 PM

She recorded a promo spot for our local acoustic music station (WUMB in Boston, Massachusetts, USA) a while back. She started it by saying "Hi, this is Gillian Welch," pronounced with a hard G. That's good enough for me.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 02:16 PM

This is tragic, (TRAjik) OK, I want a soundbite or a signed affadavit from the woman herself.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 02:22 PM

Giok - Hmmmm.
Is that pronounced "Jock" or "Gawk"?
America wants to know....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: open mike
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 02:28 PM

"G" as in gate, garden and goat
not as in giraffe, cabbage, or geology.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Don Firth
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 02:36 PM

Sorry, BPL, trajik though it may be, I've heard her a couple of times on my magic electric television set refer to herself as "Gillian" (hard G) and that's the way I've heard her introduced--numerous times. As I matter of fact, I recall some sort of funny by-play about her name between she and Garrison Keillor on "Prairie Home Companion."

Early on, while talking with a bluegrass musician friend of mine, I refered to her as "Jillian," and he corrected me. I had my doubts that he was right. But next time I heard her on TV, she was introduced as "Gillian" (hard G). And every time since then.

Ain't no gettin' around it.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,(pronounced 'Jest')
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 07:58 AM

I suppose if Americans can pronounce Colin as Coh-lin, they can do anything.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Paul Burke
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 08:41 AM

The Gillyflower has the soft G, it's apparently derived from July flower.

But in a language where gaol is homophonic with jail, anything can happen. Inspector Ghoti, for example.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 08:45 AM

Deeyoowee!!

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 09:36 AM

GUEST/Jest, most Americans only pronounce Colin as Coh-lin (long "o" sound") when referring to Colin Powell. That's because he pronounces it that way; I once heard him refer to the unusual pronunciation in an interview. Others with the same spelling are pronounced, by Americans and others, with a short "o" sound.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Bainbo
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 08:47 PM

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Bainbo
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 08:49 PM

"Guest" could never be pronounced "Jest". That's what the "u" is for - makes it a hard g, like in morgue.

Yours pedantically ...

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: DonMeixner
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 09:18 PM

I have only heard it said as Gil-lian. A G as in gift or government.

Don

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Paul Burke
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 03:43 AM

Might be worth adding that the jig Gillan's Apples (Gillan being a surname, with a hard G), was misprinted on a popular LP in the 60s as Gillian's Apples, and has been known as such ever since (always with a soft G). I suppose the image it conjures up of a healthy young female helped the change to stick.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 04:47 AM

Do you think when Powell goes to the bar he orders a Tom Coh-lins?

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 05:14 AM

The only person with the name spelt Gillian and pronounced with a hard G is the subject of this thread so it is certainly not the usual pronounciation in England today (although whether it was pronounced this way earlier I don't know).

However, I think it's a bit rich having a go at Americans for the pronounciation of their names when you're from Britain:

Featherstonehaugh pronounced Fanshaw!
Gloucester pronounced Gloster
Cockburn pronounced Coburn
etc etc etc.

Although my own personal prejudice is really brought to the fore by people who pronounce Antony and Anthony differently grrrr!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 05:34 AM

Gilleain Na Tuaighe was a Gaelic warrior in Scotland about 800 years ago. MacLeans take their name from him and consider him to have been the first chief of the clan. His name in Gaelic is pronounced with a hard but very short "G" with emphasis on the last syl.
I think that this name has evolved to "Gillian".

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Dick The Box
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 05:38 AM

There is a village I know in Kent spelt Trottiscliffe but pronounced Trosley. It is close to Wrotham which is pronounced Root-ham. Place names and their pronunciation - there's a whole new can of worms for you......

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Dazbo
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 05:41 AM

Whoops! The only person with the name spelt Gillian... should have read:

The only person I've heard of or met with the name spelt Gillian...

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Terry K
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 08:12 AM

I hate it when I hear golf commentators pronounce Retief Goosen with a hard G - it's just laziness on their part, not learning how to pronounce it properly. Bad manners too. One US commentator even referred to him as "the Goose" - which I remember as a childhood term of derision, as in "you silly goose".

More forgiveable were the Indian cricket community who used to refer to Ian Botham as "Iron Bottom" - methinks with a little waspish humour.

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 08:56 AM

In Cornwall there is Mousehole, pronounced Mowsle, which is near St Austell, pronounced Snosdle.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 09:00 AM

Well Joe if you'd come to the Getaway like you should have, then you'd have known how to pronounce it........ Jock.
Please do try to pay attention!
Giok ☺

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Snuffy
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 09:09 AM

"Snosdle" should not be confused with "Snozzle", which is Snowshill, Gloucestershire (Glorse).

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 10:20 AM

Avoch = Och
Anstruther = Ainster

G.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 03:55 PM

I just heard David Rawlings on a aud recording call her Gill so I am thinking definitely hard g because you'd think he would know.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 05:58 PM

J is always soft, but G can be either hard or soft. So saying things like "Is it pronunced as Gillian or Jillian?" makes no sense whatsoever.

"Gillian" (with a soft G) is the more common spelling in the UK anyway. With "Jill" as the abbreviation.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Ebor_fiddler
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:35 PM

I think we have two names here, though spelt the same. The "Hard G", comes as suggested from Scottish Highland origin; the "Soft G" originates from the name "Giles", or in French "Gille". Both pronunciations are linguisticall correct and may refer to people of either sex, or none!

Love and Fishes,

Chris

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 09:42 AM

I'm with McG of H. I do not see the point of this discussion. I know two ladies called Gillian, and they both pronounce it 'Jillian'. I work on the assumption that people know how to pronounce their own names.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 01:34 PM

I think it should be pronounced however she wishes it to be. Funny language of ours this is.

How would you pronounce - GHOTI ?

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 01:56 PM

Is it like that chap who owned an Island..?

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 01:57 PM

Fish.

Subject: RE: Help: Pronunciation of Gillian Welch's name
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 02:23 PM

We live and learn - I assumed (wrongly) that it was Gillian with a Jill. I only came to this thread because I wanted to know whether 'Welch' rhymed with 'belch' - or, well, 'Welsh'.