Bathurst to Bolingbroke

The archaic pronunciation of surnames has not always developed at the same pace as our language, and can cause confusion. The table below gives guidance on the pronunciation of a selection of English surnames - establishing the traditional pronunciation of a surname will ensure that you do not cause offence.

Surname

Pronunciation

Bathurst

Bath-urst ('a' as in 'cat')

Bazalgette

Bazl-jet

Beauchamp

Beecham

Beauclerk

Bo-clare

Beaudesert

Bodezair

Beaufort

Bo-foot

Beaulieu

Bew-ley

Beaumont

Bo-mont

Becher

Beacher

Bechervaise

Besh-er-vayse

Bedingfield

Beddingfield

Behrens

Barens

Belfast

Bel-fast

Bellew

Bell-ew

Bellingham

Bellingjam or Bellingum

Belvoir

Beevor

Bengough

Ben-goff

Beresford

Berris-fud

Bertie

Barti

Betham

Bee-tham

Bethune

Beaton

Bicester

Bister

Blakiston

Blackiston

Bledisloe

Bledslow

Blenheim

Blen-im

Bligh

Bly

Blithfield

Bliffield

Blois

Bloyss

Blomefield

Bloomfield

Blount

Blunt

Blyth

Bly

Boevey

Boovey or Buvey (short 'u')

Boleyn

Bull-in

Bolingbroke

Bulling-brook

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