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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?

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    $\begingroup$ Ironic fact: "Pronunciation" is one of the most commonly mispronounced words, since it is often misspelled "Pronounciation" :) $\endgroup$ Nov 6, 2009 at 16:51
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    $\begingroup$ Sadly, Henry passed away on September 3, 2019 at the age of 86. For those interested, there is a brief remembrance by James Oxley on the Matroid Union Blog. matroidunion.org/?p=2443 $\endgroup$
    – Tony Huynh
    Oct 22, 2019 at 22:52

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Gordon Royle is right, I'm living in La Vacquerie. The reference to GWU is not correct: that is the workplace of my colleague Bill Schmitt. The US pronunciation is indeed "cray-poe", but in France it tends to become "crah-poe". Henry

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    $\begingroup$ Henry omits to mention that in French "crah-poe" is a homonym for "crapaud" (or toad), and so his house is a trove of frog-related humour - dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5543627/IMG_0122.jpg $\endgroup$ Sep 17, 2015 at 10:28
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    $\begingroup$ @GordonRoyle Unfortunately, the dropbox link is dead. Would you be willing to update it? $\endgroup$ Oct 22, 2019 at 13:29
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    $\begingroup$ French (or Latin) reading would be closer to "crah-paw" as the last vowel won't be diphtongued. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Jun 10, 2020 at 14:46
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My name is Martin Crapo, and have always pronounced it Cray-poe. The name evolved from Crapaud and Crepeaux. Pierre Crapo was the French boy who stowed away on his brothers French Merchant ship in the late 1600's. His brother initially refused to bring him on his trip to America from France, so young Pierre boarded the ship unbeknownst to his brother and hid. After a few days, he came out from hiding. Seeing a dilemma, his brother took him along. Arriving in Cape Cod, the ship was caught in a storm and was wrecked upon the rocks. Strangely Pierre, his Captain brother and about 3 sailors survived. When his brother earned enough money to return to France, he apprenticed his brother Pierre to someone for work, saying that he would soon return to get him. He never returned. Pierre was the beginning of the Crapo's in America. My contact is [email protected]

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  • $\begingroup$ Maybe you are related to Henry, who for those interested, is alive and well and living in the tiny village of La Vacquerie et Saint Martin de la Castries in the South of France. See matroidunion.org/?p=38 for a brief description of our meeting chez Henry in June. $\endgroup$ Nov 4, 2013 at 11:29
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It seems that the one of the people in Wikipedia, Governor Henry Howland Crapo of Michigan, has exactly the same name as the mathematician Henry Howland Crapo 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 paper to the arXiv himself in April of this year. So you could ask him how to pronounce his name, and about his genealogy.

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 was a French castaway who was found on Cape Cod in the 17th century. He was nicknamed crapaud (toad) just because he was French.

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  • $\begingroup$ Aha, thank you! The last location I had for him was at George Washington University. $\endgroup$ Nov 6, 2009 at 19:56
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    $\begingroup$ I didn't know that submitting a paper to the arXiv could save your life! $\endgroup$ Nov 6, 2009 at 20:25
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KRAY-poe. The name is of French origin.

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    $\begingroup$ French origin seems to indicate a different vowel in the first syllable. $\endgroup$ Nov 6, 2009 at 16:25
  • $\begingroup$ The original French word, crapaud, sounds like "cap-oo", but in the strange way etymology works, the pronunciation for the surname is indeed correct. (Fun side trivia: for a while the Italian and French words for "colonel" were in use, until at some point by impeccable logic English speakers decided to take the Italian spelling and the French pronunciation.) $\endgroup$
    – Jason Dyer
    Nov 6, 2009 at 16:48
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    $\begingroup$ It is definitely KRAY-poe. Richard Stanley told me this when I was a grad student. Also, I've heard Crapo give a talk and that is how he was introduced. $\endgroup$ Jun 5, 2010 at 0:37
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Might I add, somewhat nostalgically, that the amusing homonymy was a “running joke” between my dear, departed friend Henry and yours truly over the course of our extensive epistolary relationship. So it was that I playfully dubbed his fantastic, impressive home in La Vacquerie: “Toad Hall” – (an allusion to Kenneth Grahame’s marvelous tale “The Wind in the Willows”… - Edward Lamb

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Wikipedia says it's like "halo."

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  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, none of the wikipedia examples are the person I want. Still, that's helpful. $\endgroup$ Nov 6, 2009 at 16:12
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I knew Henry quite well. His last name is pronounced Cray-poe.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to MathOverflow! $\endgroup$ Jun 10, 2020 at 14:21
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome indeed, but I think that this question is already answered, and it doesn't get much more authoritative than an answer from @HenryCrapo. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Jun 10, 2020 at 14:24

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