Taliaferro Pronunciation

Joshua Horn

Sergeant
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Location
Wake Forest, NC
I was wondering if anyone knows the proper way to pronounce Gen. William Taliaferro's name. In other contexts I have heard Taliaferro pronounced the way it is written, but also as Toliver. Which one is right for the general?
 
I have heard it pronounced as "Toliver," as well. I suspect that's not quite right, but close enough.
 
There's a family here who have the exact same surname - wonder if there's a relation? - but they pronounce it Tall-ee-ah-fear-oh.

Darius Couch has always bugged me. I've heard it Couch - like the furniture; Gooch and Coosh. And Dah -rye-us or Dairy-us...
 
The folks with that name around Culpeper, VA pronounce it "Tolliver". A restaurant name Taliaferro changed its name to Tolliver in order to avoid confusion in a name look up by potential customers
 
He pronounced it Tah-liver according to John Hennesey in the book " Return to Bull Run".
Thats the way i learned,as well.I would trust the Culpepper reference.To me its the oddest name spelling-to-pronunciation in the whole war.as to Couch---I have always learned Kootch,and a long I sound.Dar-eye-us.Who knows for sure?I remember first studying the ANVa,my dad had to correct me from saying EEEE-well.Hey I was about 10.Dnint know about baby lambs n stuff.
 
The folks with that name around Culpeper, VA pronounce it "Tolliver". A restaurant name Taliaferro changed its name to Tolliver in order to avoid confusion in a name look up by potential customers
Actually I think we are saying the same thing. Tah-liver pronounced with a soft Virginia drawl would probably sound like Tolliver.
 
Actually I think we are saying the same thing. Tah-liver pronounced with a soft Virginia drawl would probably sound like Tolliver.

I went to school with a girl with that last name, and she pronounced it somewhere between those two, so that was always ingrained for me.

Got in a conversation one time with someone about Dred Scott, whose wife's owner's name was Taliaferro. The other fellow was trying to remember the name and I filled it in, but since each of us thought that our way of pronouncing it was the only possible way, the verbal discussion went on forever, when it would have ended immediately if written. He insisted I was remembering wrong and that certainly wasn't the right man, but he couldn't remember what it was. "It begins with a T..." "Tolliver." "No, not that." "Yes, that's it." "No, I'm sure that's not it. It's T something." "It's Tolliver." "No, I think it's something like TalliFERRo."

Another odd one is Garrard, which is also a county name in Kentucky from an early governor's name, and there it's pronounced GARE-id rather than je-RARD.
 
When I was a freshman at William and Mary I lived in Taliaferro Hall, which was named after the general, and the college's instruction for pronunciation was Tolliver. Interestingly, in the manner of many Southern names, the college insisted on using the middle name, Gen. W. Booth Taliaferro, rather than Gen. William B. Taliaferro. When I was there almost 45 years ago there was no kitchen, laundry, or air conditioning unless you cooked something on a hotplate, ran the hot water in the sink, or opened the window.

Taliaferro Hall


Welcome to Taliaferro Hall (pronounced "Tolliver")! Taliaferro is conveniently located across the street from the historic Wren Building in the heart of Old Campus and near the Campus Center. Forty- nine first-year residents live on three floors with a hall bath on each floor in this small, close community. Located on the first floor are the kitchen, laundry room and two air-conditioned lounges. Taliaferro has four double rooms that share a bathroom on the second floor, often referred to as the Tower, separated from the rest of the hall. These rooms provide an opportunity to build an intimate community yet still be able to intereact with the rest of the building. Taliaferro was named after Major General Booth Taliaferro, an alumnus of the College.
 
One of the problems I've always had with spelling was due to the southern tendency to drawl it's vowels, so that they seem almost equally interchangeable. ("a" could also be "e", "o" and "u" sound much alike, etc.). Just south of where I grew up was the Chickamauga battlefield and the town of Lafayette. Apparantly the settlers of the town wanted to honor the french hero of the revolution, but didn't know how to pronounce french words. So from shortly thereafter, the town is called by the locals in the area as "La-FAY-yet".

My high school only had two foreign language teachers, the Spanish teacher was from Bogata, but she also taught French as well - albeit with a strong Columbian accent. My sister inheritited her deep-Alabama accent from hour mother, and hearing her trying to speak French with a Columbian-Alabama accent was enough to make me avoid French entirely. I ended up studying both German and Spanish, but I've never used either one - accept to speak a little Spanish when ordering in a Mexican restaurant. I'm now having to learn Japanese, which is pretty hard when one is in their fifties.
 
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