How do you pronounce coughlin

Wow, my maiden name is Coughlin and now I'm just confused! Anything, though, is better than COFF-lin!! From a broadcast of Father Coughlin, the radio priest, his studip announer introducced him as COG-lin. Thanks for the discussion! I pronounce it the way my father and grandfather pronounced it, I don't know who made the change, but I'm afraid it's been the dreaded Coff-lin for over a hundred years!

I was about to send a note to the NY Times about the spelling of the notorious Father Coughlin's name. I've seen comments throughout the decades I'm 74 that say it is correctly spelled "Coghlin". Well, after doing an Amazon book search, and finding more than one biography with it spelled "Coughlin", I realize that those attempts at correction were wrong.

Your article is quite interesting; I'm a dilettante linguist and fan of Gaelic spellings. I haven't learned the rules, though. In the future, I'll avoid saying "Cofflin"! Best regards, [nb]. Hello, I'm a bit confused as well Our family now spells Coughlin - Coghlan. I just found out they dropped the u and changed the I into an a So confused, we're from Ireland as well. But even when they were here they didn't change it until ish.

How do you pronounce your last name, Elizabeth Anne? Bob C. Thanks for an interesting post and an interesting blog. I'm a Coughlin who has travelled to Ireland many times and I have had the very same conversations and observations about the pronunciation of the name. Interestingly, it's the overwhelming variant in the UK too. You suggest an American reason for this while I suggest a British reason for this.

I think it was British phonetic rules at play which by extension are often American rules too. Keep in mind that nearly every Coughlan from Cork county or city who emigrated had his name recorded on a ship's manifest by a British steamship employee. This British spelling was what the US immigration officials saw and the British pronunciation was what he heard as he ticked down the manifest list with the steamship employee sitting right beside him.

I think that is the root of the 'A' to 'I' change and it explains why A is so common in Ireland while I is so common in America. Pronouncing ough as off is British English in origin. Pronouncing ough as ock is Irish language in origin and clearly explains the Cock-Lan that is so prominent in West Cork.

Fewer people know the Irish word for lake as Lough lock. Coughlin is not the only name this happened to. More recently, my cousins from West Cork who moved to Cork city simply gave up trying to correct the Collin pronunciation because it was like paddling against the tide. I suspect the same thing happened to Coughlan's Cock-lan who came here a century ago. Everybody from teachers to government officials to neighbors called them Coughlin coff-lin and they just gave up.

It just wasn't important enough for them to wage a futile fight against overwhelming odds. That's certainly my family's story. My father knew his name was Coughlan cock-lan and told me that many times when I was young but all his official American documents were spelled Coughlin and everybody called him coff-lin so he didn't fight it.

As another commenter wrote: "It's been the dreaded Coff-lin for over a hundred years! Just keep telling your children the truth, ala Alex Haley in Roots and be thankful that we're not Eastern Europeans who suffered far worse Anglicizations. Mia British. Libby British. Karen Australian. Natasha Australian. Hayley Australian. Moira Irish. Emily Irish. Tessa South African. Leah South African. Veena Indian. Priya Indian. Neerja Indian. Clara Canadian English.

Heather Canadian English. Fiona Scottish. Rate 1. At least that is what I have heard. Surnames sometimes have pronunciations based on the way the owners of same pronounce them. In Ireland, Coughlin would probably hold to the original pronunciation - Cocklin - but here, the name of the high school is pronunced Cofflin.

My kids go to Holy Redeemer so what do I know? But I have never heard "Cocklin. Originally Posted by theatergypsy. That's a general problem with the English language, sometimes a word can be pronounced different ways. In more isolated areas, the locals may read it and say it based on how it looks, and not ever know the proper pronunciation if not told.

Especially in the days when there wasn't too much TV. Then by word of mouth, the locals will pronounce it that way and set a trend. I thought to myself, these folks must not watch too much TV. I'm sure there are a lot of examples like that. Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick.