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Old 08-24-2014, 08:36 AM
 
7 posts, read 11,292 times
Reputation: 16

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Got a question that everyone in Boston knows, but I don't because I live a thousand miles away in the Midwest . I choose to start being a Red Sox fan in 2014, although 2013 would have been a whole lot smarter. Regardless, first or last, Go Red Sox! My last name is Jahnke, which I've been telling people for 40 years is pronounced like donkey with a "Y" in front. While reading the history of the Red Sox ownership today, I was amazed to learn about decades-long owner Tom Yawkey and Fenway's address of 4 Yawkey Way and I have got to know how Mr. Yawkey and you good Boston folks pronounced his name. Even if someone in his family Americanized the spelling, it would just thrill me to death to know that my favorite baseball team has an address with my last name.
Pretty annoying, but I live in an area that is 95% Cubs or Reds fans. So I have got to do some serious bragging to my friends and co-workers that the most important ballpark and the most important team in baseball is located on "my" street. Even if I (just maybe) leave the part out about it being spelled a little different (he,he,he...).
Thanks for your answers, Boston, and even if the name is not the same, Go Red Sox.
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Old 08-24-2014, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Nashville TN
4,918 posts, read 6,470,242 times
Reputation: 4778
I become a Red Sox fan when I moved to Boston because of the passion of their fans... baseball is not my fav sport kinda slow and boring in my opinion but Fenway Park is amazing. The experience around the Fens is best of any venue i been to for baseball. Yaaaa Key whats so hard to pronounce about the name... it sounds like a British/English type of name. My parents are Yankees fan and I am a Red Sox fan. Welcome to Red Sox Nation some of the best fans in baseball but I am still more of a college sports fan especially college football and college basketball. Have a blessed day-RL
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Old 08-24-2014, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Massachusetts
4,693 posts, read 3,473,160 times
Reputation: 17174
Quote:
Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981 View Post
I become a Red Sox fan when I moved to Boston because of the passion of their fans... baseball is not my fav sport kinda slow and boring in my opinion but Fenway Park is amazing. The experience around the Fens is best of any venue i been to for baseball. Yaaaa Key whats so hard to pronounce about the name... it sounds like a British/English type of name. My parents are Yankees fan and I am a Red Sox fan. Welcome to Red Sox Nation some of the best fans in baseball but I am still more of a college sports fan especially college football and college basketball. Have a blessed day-RL
Too many A's! It's hard for me to write it as I say it but kind of like the ya In ya'll then key. Don't drag the word out, I have never heard it pronounced that way.

Welcome to Sox Nation and remember there is always next year!
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Old 08-24-2014, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Cleveland and Columbus OH
11,052 posts, read 12,452,032 times
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It's pronounced pretty much exactly how it's spelled. Unfortunately, I don't think the Yawkey name was changed in any way. Seems like your name comes from some Germanic background. The Yawkeys had been in the USA for a long time, Tom as the son of a lumber tycoon- I'd be surprised if they weren't of English heritage. There's more than a few questionable things about the Yawkeys in terms of race relations, so it's probably not all bad that you don't share an exact name.
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Old 08-24-2014, 02:54 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts
6,301 posts, read 9,644,887 times
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I knew Midwest Jahnkes who pronounced the family last name Jangkey, rhyming with Yankee and similar to the sound of JANGling KEYs. Yawkey is Ya + key.
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Old 08-24-2014, 04:31 PM
 
Location: Nashville TN
4,918 posts, read 6,470,242 times
Reputation: 4778
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjimmy24 View Post
It's pronounced pretty much exactly how it's spelled. Unfortunately, I don't think the Yawkey name was changed in any way. Seems like your name comes from some Germanic background. The Yawkeys had been in the USA for a long time, Tom as the son of a lumber tycoon- I'd be surprised if they weren't of English heritage. There's more than a few questionable things about the Yawkeys in terms of race relations, so it's probably not all bad that you don't share an exact name.
The name doesn't not sound German at all. Yawkey sounds English or Irish but I could be wrong. I am half german my parents are from Frankfort and that name isn't German.
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Old 08-24-2014, 05:38 PM
 
7 posts, read 11,292 times
Reputation: 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by 495neighbor View Post
I knew Midwest Jahnkes who pronounced the family last name Jangkey, rhyming with Yankee and similar to the sound of JANGling KEYs. Yawkey is Ya + key.

Thanks for your answers, guys. I guess Mr. Yawkey and this Mr. Jahnke have less in common than I had hoped. Still going to love the Red Sox, though. I am, indeed, mispronounced on a pretty regular basis as "Jangkey" and sometimes Jangk-uh. Worst case scenerio, though, was at a swim meet when I was in middle school. I had a cold and when the announcer said the results of a race, I just happened to have the perfect timing of blowing my nose in a handkerchief as the announcer mispronounced my name as "hankie." My fellow classmates called me hankie for the rest of the school year. Jeez...
Anyway, thanks for your help and Go Red Sox.
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Old 08-24-2014, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Cleveland and Columbus OH
11,052 posts, read 12,452,032 times
Reputation: 10385
Quote:
Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981 View Post
The name doesn't not sound German at all. Yawkey sounds English or Irish but I could be wrong. I am half german my parents are from Frankfort and that name isn't German.
THat's what I said- Yawkey is almost certainly English. "Jahnke" seems very German to me, _as someone who speaks German- and it would be pronounced "Yahn-kuh" in the native tongue). I was referencing OP's name. Yawkey definitely wasn't German.
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