most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-25T07:51:19Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/question/4394 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/4394/pronunciation-crapo David Speyer 2009-11-06T16:05:55Z 2009-11-06T19:25:26Z

<p>A similar question reminds me: When giving talks, I often want to refer to the work of Henry Crapo. I have asked several mathematicians, and none of them were sure how to pronounce his last name. Any help?</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/4394/pronunciation-crapo/4396#4396 Ben Webster 2009-11-06T16:10:49Z 2009-11-06T16:10:49Z

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crapo" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> says it's like "halo."</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/4394/pronunciation-crapo/4397#4397 Jason Dyer 2009-11-06T16:12:20Z 2009-11-06T16:12:20Z

<p>KRAY-poe. The name is of French origin.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/4394/pronunciation-crapo/4419#4419 Greg Kuperberg 2009-11-06T19:25:26Z 2009-11-06T19:25:26Z

<p>It seems that the one of the people in Wikipedia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry%5FH.%5FCrapo" rel="nofollow">Governor Henry Howland Crapo</a> of Michigan, has exactly the same name as the mathematician <a href="http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=13377" rel="nofollow">Henry Howland Crapo</a> who got a PhD from Rota and eventually moved to France. I conjecture that it is not a coincidence. The latter Crapo is still alive, I think, because he submitted <a href="http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/0904.3349" rel="nofollow">a paper</a> to the arXiv himself in April of this year. So you could ask him how to pronounce his name, and about his genealogy.</p> <p>The answer to the first will presumably be what Jason Dyer said, Cray'-Poe (as in Seymour Cray and Edgar Allan Poe). It is true that the name is originally a French word, but it is an entirely American name. According to the reference, the first Crapo <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/bristol/bios/crapo84gbs.txt" rel="nofollow">was a French castaway</a> who was found on Cape Cod in the 17th century. He was nicknamed crapaud (toad) just because he was French.</p>