Why is 'Reagan' in 'Ronald Reagan' not pronounced as 'Ree-gan'?

First, yes people do get to decide how their name is supposed to be pronounced. Second, different language origins use letters differently. Irish people pronounce Sean like the English name "Shawn", they use the letters differently than English origin words and names. Reagan apparently comes from Irish as well. Some of the variant spellings include Regan and Riagáin and when people anglicized it (made it into an English name) they used letters however they felt like to try to get across the pronunciation.

Yes, the correct pronunciation of any name is what the family says it is.

Ultimately a family gets to decide how they want their name pronounced, but usually there is some deeper historical explanation for the pronunciation. If I'm not mistaken, Reagan is an Irish name, and I know that their phonetic dictionary differs from English in many ways

There's words where "ea" is pronouned like ay, not ee. Wear, pear, break, steak.

As people have said, it's absolutely true that there are, essentially, no real rules to name pronunciation. Families and individuals have a vast amount of leeway on how their name is pronounced. But it's also true that English, in general, has wide variances in how different letters and letter combinations are pronounced, and there are *lots* of situations where different dialects, regions, and communities tend to pronounce words in all sorts of different ways. That includes "ea," which I'd pronounce one way in "mead," a different way in "head," and a yet different way in "steak." With "steak," in fact, I'd pronounce it pretty much the same way I would in "Reagan."

I know that "ray-gan" is correct, but honestly I hear people say "ree-gan" all the time. This is a pretty common mispronunciation in my experience.

Ronnie Ray-Gun hold over :)

Brett Favre wrote a book on this.

>Is it because people get to decide how their own (last) name is pronounced  Bingo! Personal and place names are often written using old phonetics (especially in England) or and/or non-English phonetics. The pronunciation of such names must be memorized. Wait until you learn about Worcestershire sauce, the river Thames, place names in Wisconsin (which are often native words as transcribed by French explorers), etc., etc., etc.

It’s worth remembering most “Irish” surnames are actually anglicised versions of the original Irish/Gaelic surname. As such they’re approximations of the original name and can vary a lot. Reagan is likely the result of some Irish-speaking immigrant giving their name and an immigration official doing their best to spell it. Hence a lot of Irish surnames acquired different spellings in the U.S. and in Ireland or the UK. Reagan is rare in Ireland, Regan is more common (and pronounced ree-gan).

Because it’s a name and the person can do anything they want with it. 

it's because his pappy said it that way and his pappy's pappy said it that way

Basically because the meet-meat merger did not take place in Irish English and Reagan is of Irish origin: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological\_history\_of\_English\_close\_front\_vowels#Meet%E2%80%93meat\_merger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels#Meet%E2%80%93meat_merger)

The same way that ready isn't "reedy". Mostly, though, formal names can be pronounced in all kinds of weird ways. They don't follow any rules.

Fun fact— this is my first name and my parents had the same thought as you! So they switched the spelling from “ea” to “ae,” which i like a lot more. It’s clear from my spelling that the pronunciation is more of a long A than an E (in my opinion), and I can more easily and accurately use the nickname Rae :)

People pronounce Reagan both ways depending on their family choice. Ronald Reagan's Treasury Secretary was Donald Regan and, although it originated in the same Irish, he pronounced it Ree-gan.

Why is Brett Favre last name pronounced farce? Because he said so


It depends both on the person and the language of origin. For example, my last name isn’t a common last name in the country I live, it is tied to a different country. Those in past generations pronounce the last name one way, while I probably use a more “American” version.

Cos Ronalds press secretary, Donald Reagan pronounced it the other way.

I’ve always pronounced it Ray-gun.

Yeah pretty much what you said but more like his ancestors decided (or if they came over on a boat, it could have been influenced how it was interpreted to sound). Sometimes there’s more to it but for last names aka surnames or family names, it’s just something that passes down because kids hear their parents say it.

Rea is pronounced Ray

Raygun sounds better

It's actually pronounced as "dickhead". I know, English has some weird idiosyncrasies of pronunciation.

Why is "great" not pronounced as "greet"? English spelling is difficult, and knowing how to pronounce something based on spelling can be a challenge, particularly with some letter combinations like "ea." But also, yes, names are not always quite the same as regular "words" in that they can come from other languages with different pronunciation/spelling rules, or even just parents who had non-traditional ideas about how their baby's name should be pronounced, so, while "Jones" is (probably) always pronounced the one way, in many cases with names there is variation, and you may even have to ask someone "sorry, how do you say your name?"

names are weird don't be mad at me, be mad at some swedish parents who tried to name their kid brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116(pronounced 'albin') in 1996 [yes, this actually happened](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_law_in_Sweden#Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116)

Names usually don't change spelling, so when spelling rules change, names become silly - especially if the name is from another language.

>Is it because people get to decide how their own (last) name is pronounced... Austin's Mueller neighborhood used to be an airport. It was named after a guy who pronounced it "Miller", but no one ever calls it that.

The proper way to pronounce his name is "Fucker"

Yeah no it's just how people choose to pronounce their names my first name looks like one name when it's pronounced a bit differently !

It's cause people decide how their name is pronounced. Like... My family has always pronounced our last name one way. But I once met a guy from another part of the US with the same last name who pronounced it a different way. (He was kind of a dick and accused me of pronouncing my name incorrectly and that people like me are why everyone mispronounces his name) But the point here is, name pronunciation changes as families move further from the place of the name's origin.

https://www.google.com/search?q=when+two+vowels+go+walking+rule&client=safari&sca_esv=6d00a31fb144c6f6&source=hp&ei=sd2nZ5HGO73P0PEPjuCisAg&oq=when+two+vowe&gs_lp=EhFtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1ocCINd2hlbiB0d28gdm93ZSoCCAEyBRAuGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEjOVFDcCFi7RHADeACQAQCYAW-gAe0IqgEEMTMuMbgBAcgBAPgBAZgCEaACxwmoAg_CAgoQABgDGOoCGI8BwgIKEC4YAxjqAhiPAcICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMY0QMYxwHCAgsQLhiABBixAxjUAsICDhAAGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAgsQLhiABBjHARivAcICBBAAGAPCAggQLhiABBixA8ICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIIEC4YgAQY1ALCAgsQABiABBiGAxiKBcICBRAAGO8FwgIIEAAYgAQYogSYAwfxBcGf77QQrmH2kgcEMTYuMaAHgHU&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp

There are people walking this Earth who spell their surname “Featherstonehaugh” but pronounce it “Fanshaw”. On that scale, “Reagan” as “Raygan” doesn’t even register.

What’s funny is that Reagan’s Secretary of the Treasury was Donald Regan which most people pronounced as Ree-gan. 

Last names depend on what language a name originates from since not all languages have the same phonetics, and if it doesn't match the language of origin, often at some point either an ancestor just decided to pronounce it a certain way, or if American, immigrants were pressured to adopt less foreign sounding pronunciations to avoid discrimination. Reagan is either Irish or derived from an Irish surname. And Irish phonetics are famously different from English despite seeming like they would be similar. The fact that it's "Ray-gan" and not Ra Shan or something is somewhat surprising. (To any Irish people, I made that up. I know that's not how it would actually be pronounced)

The same names can be pronounced different ways with the same spelling, or have variations in spelling. Yours is one example. People can spell it and pronounce it in different ways. Another example is "Keane". Using that spelling, some people pronounce it "Kane" and others pronounce it "Keen". There are other examples. For various reasons, Irish names have developed different spellings and pronunciations. You just have to establish how a particular person spells and pronounces their name.

I'm pretty sure it was bc Reagan is an anglicized Irish name so the pronunciation is an anglicized version of the original name not an interpretation of the spelling.