MathOverflow will be down for maintenance for approximately 3 hours, starting Monday evening (06/24/2013) at approximately 9:00 PM Eastern time (UTC-4).
2

Is it like "Vonn" as given here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vaughan

flag
Yes, this is correct I think. Because, there is a famous British Cricket player by name Michael Vaughan, and I have heard the commentators pronouncing him as $\text{Vonn}$. – Chandrasekhar Jul 30 2011 at 13:02
2 
 In my opinion this question is too localized (though I didn't vote to close). I think it would be better if someone opened a community wiki question asking to give the correct pronunciation of several well known mathematicians when such pronunciation may not be obvious to everybody. This could be kind of useful to the mathematical community and not take more space than a single MO question. – Qfwfq Jul 30 2011 at 14:34
10 
 The vowel is longer than "Vonn" would suggest. I'm wary of saying "pronounce it to rhyme with X" because English pronunciation varies so widely around the world. But for me (south-east of England), the vowel of Vaughan is about the same as the vowel in the word "sawn". – James Cranch Jul 30 2011 at 14:38
2 
 I'd say Vaughan rhymes, more or less, with "lawn." – MTS Jul 30 2011 at 19:18
2 
 When I was in Berkeley in the 90s and his name came up, people would pronounce it to rhyme with the way I pronounce lawn, which I pronounce in an English way. But is there even a well-defined answer? I remember at school once when I was about 14 my French teacher asking me, in front of the whole class, "Is it pronounced Buzzud or Buzzaarrd?" and my not having a clue, and furthermore realising that I had no idea how to find out, and that the question had never occurred to me, and that people said both. Don't I just get to choose? If so then you just have to ask Vaughan :-) And he may not care! – Kevin Buzzard Jul 31 2011 at 6:44
show 8 more comments

closed as off topic by Felipe Voloch, Mark Sapir, Todd Trimble, Franz Lemmermeyer, Simon Thomas Jul 30 2011 at 15:47

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.