Spelling and Pronunciation

No surer way can be found to annoy some people than to misspell or mis-pronounce their name. One Midgley could always be roused to fury by spelling his name Midgeley, a form others accepted without complaint. I have been severely censured for including Morrice in my Dictionary but excluding Morice, whilst many Clarkes are touchy if they are deprived of their final e and Smythe insists on both his particular spelling and pronunciation. But there is nothing aristocratic about the name. It is merely an antiquated spelling dating from the time when i and y were inter-changeable and is identical in origin with the common and honourable name of Smith . The correct pronunciation of my own name is Rainey, which I seldom hear now. When, more years ago than I care to remember, I corrected the pronunciation Reeney, I was told this must be correct as bean was pronounced been . To which I could only reply that great was pronounced grate . I could now add that the place-name from which it derives, Ranah Stones in Thurlstone (WRY), was spelled Reynoe and Raynoh in the seventeenth century. The present spelling of the surname dates from the middle of the sixteenth century.