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Subject: [COTTRELL-L] Pronuciation of Cottrell and Variations
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 00:14:13 EDT

Ok, lets see if I can help a little here with the pronunciation. My
great-grandfather's (Hibert C. Coterel) descendants use the spelling Coterel
which is pronounced Cot-er-el or like Kotter(cot not coat) and el as in
el-salvador. This is the way I pronounce the our name. However, some within
this line say it Cot-er-rule and spell it Coterel or Coteral. Similar
spelling with very similar pronunciations include: Cotterell, Cotterill,
Cotterel, Cotteral, etc. All have three sylabuls and the e between the t and
r is not silent. If you say the name Cot-er-el fast without thinking it is
very difficult to distinguish it from the popular Cottrell

The descendants of Hibert's brother Amzie use the spelling Cottrill and
pronounce it Cott-rill. Here again Cot not coat and trill as in I'm ill.

Hibert and Amzie had a brother Albert and his descendants spell the name
Cottrell and pronounce the name Cott-rell. Again Cot not coat trell with the
ell sounding like el as in el-salvador. However, I have heard the name
pronounced as Cut-rell but spelled Cottrell

The descendants of Charlie, a younger brother to the above use the spelling
Cotrel or Cotrell and pronoucne it the same as Cottrell.

There are two other versions that I have run across but have no known
relatives using the spelling and they are Cattrell or Cattrall (as in Kim
Cattrall the actress) and Cutrell. Those that I have been in contact with
that spell the name like Cat or Cut have a about the same pronuciation and it
really isn't that different from Cottrell.

In other words, the pronunciations are almost as varied as the spelling of
the surname. At one time, I set down and figured there were at least 36 ways
to spell the name and at least a dozen different ways the name could have
been pronounced. I thought I would post this here because most people ask my
how I pronounce Coterel versus Cottrell. By the way, most of the people I am
aquainted with pronounce my name Cottrell or Cottrill. Even my brother has
given up on the Coterel pronunciation and uses Cottrell but still spells it
Coterel. Frustration from correcting people on how to say the name I guess.
I suspect that is what may have happened to many other Cottrell families at
one point or another at least within lineage. One thing I do know for
certain is that Cottrell is the most popular version of the surname today.
Darel J. Coterel

London, Ohio

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