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Why do the English pronounce the first name "St. John" as "sinjin" but they pronounce the last name "Saintclair" as "saint clair" (and not "sinclair")? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by sgibson5150 to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

41 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Checkmate, Chuck. 👑

Edit: Given the number of downvotes I'm getting, I'm guessing a lot of people have just learned that they've been pronouncing St. John wrong. Don't beat yourselves up. It's not like it's a terribly common name.

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[–] revanthetrueemperor@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

My best guess would be that saintclair's prononciation was influenced by french, as in french the "t" is pronounced while st john might be more "english", leading to the "t" being silent

[–] sgibson5150 4 points 4 days ago

Congratulations for being the only commenter who has actually tried to answer the question. That answer of course sounds perfectly reasonable. Please accept this gold star with thanks: ⭐

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In french the “t” isn’t pronounced.

[–] revanthetrueemperor@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not in modern french but it was in old french :)

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Misunderstood your reply at first sorry :/

[–] revanthetrueemperor@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Nope you were right, i forgot to add the old french part, thanks for the catch :)