An issue came up at the end of a recent council meeting where the Fourth Ward councilor attempted to establish the proper pronunciation of the park in his district after hearing it pronounced differently on several occasions.  Citing a contemporary of Peter Copeyon, he asserted that there was only one proper way to say the name of the park that bears his last name.

We will engage that discussion further, but we will first attempt to establish what is the proper way to pronounce four other parks' names throughout the city, many of which you may hear pronounced differently by different folks.  We will try to determine what is right and proper, yet we will more likely stir the pot of disagreement between members who attest that their pronunciation is the right way.  We begin with the least debatable and progress through to the most controversial.

1:  City (Rotary) Park:  Before it became Rotary Park, City Park located on Ludington Avenue west of the downtown, was undeniably the easiest city park to pronounce.  It retains that rank in its recent name change.  Roh-teh-ree Park, named after the Rotary Club which helped fund some recent upgrades.

2.  Stearns Park:  Named after famed local Justus Stearns, we only need to learn how the family name is properly pronounced.  The surname come from the Anglo-Saxon word Stierne, which meant strict, and is where we get the word 'stern'.  While the etymology shows there may have been a time when the three middle letters were pronounced 'ear' as it would have in Spanish (also see this video on how to pronounce Kearns), there is little doubt that the currently agreed upon way to say it is Sturnz, as the cities in Kentucky and Wisconsin are called, and several videos attest.  

3.  Leveaux Park:  Unfamiliar with this park?  The triangular section of parkland formed where Ludington Avenue veers left just before Staffon Street on the way out of Ludington is probably the park you pass the most often.  The park was named after fallen World War 1 hero Cosmer Magnus Leveaux who died and was buried in France in 1918 when he was serving as part of the American Expeditionary forces.   Tragically, his brother, Emery, was killed at sea in the Merchant Marine in 1917 and his sister, Amy, a Regular Army Nurse, died of influenza in the epidemic of 1918. 

Leveaux is definitely a French surname, and is properly pronounced Leh-voh, but there are surely those around the town who will wrongly anglicize it into Levee-awks or other abomination.  This August 18, will mark the 100th anniversary of Corporal Leveaux untimely demise.

4.  Cartier Park:   When you look at the historic derivation of this park, there should be only one way to pronounce this park.  The Ludington branch of the Cartier family who made it big in the lumber business, were direct descendants of noted French explorer, Jacques Cartier.  The French pronunciation of the surname is standard:  Car-tee-ay.  

But if you use that definition to describe the local park or mansion to a local or a visitor, you may get a quizzical look thrown your way.  Locals seem to prefer the English pronunciation of Car-tee-er or the rather unique variant of Car-tier.  I find the English pronunciation leads to less confusion, as those who hear the 'authentic' version are expecting that the word ends with an 'a'.

5.  Copeyon Park:  There are some old timers familiar with the long-term city councilor this park was named for that will swear that his last name was pronounced Cop-ee-yun.  Similarly, there are several old timers who will swear that this park was always called Coh-pee-yun.  The major difference appears to be whether the first syllable ends at the 'o' or the 'p'.  

The origin of the Copeyon name is obscure; one might expect someone who rose to prominence in the Fourth Ward may have been one of the nationalities who traditionally settled their to work:  German, Swedish, Polish, Irish.  Seek as I might, I have found nothing addressing the etymology or country of origin of the surname.  Without such guidance, let's look at what it's likely to be called in English.  

Google translate has it unequivocally pronounced as 'Coh' in English.  Looking at several other words that are seven letters, three syllables and begin with the letters 'cop', we find that the vast majority have the long 'o' sound:

Copilot
Copious
Copaiba
Copihue
Copepod

While only copulae and forms of the word 'copy' (copying, copiers, copyist) have the short 'o' sound.  Typically, English words that have three syllables with alternating vowels and consonants like 'Copeyon' does, will usually have the first syllable end with the first vowel.  Like the 'o' does in the word 'Rotary', the initial park we looked at.  Would we rather have that park pronounced 'Rotta-ree'?

That does have a ring to it.  However, barring any convincing evidence to the contrary, I am inclined to pronounce this last park 'Coh-pee-yun' until I see a convincing argument otherwise.  

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Used to copulate

In the stillness of Copeyon,

Until the cops came.

Now that's a vivid image, shinblind, which I hope to forget. 

But, a very good reason to pronounce it:

... Cope-pee-on, besides, if you put "Copeyon" in a translator in almost any language, (which I suspect may be Swedish or Danish), it is pronounced, "Cobp-be-on."  Similar to Copen-hagen.  But like X says, it is hard to find any etymology or translation of the name online.

In the English language, when there is a word with "O" followed by "E" in a syllable, it is pronounced with a long "O".  

Shall we say COP-EN-Hagen for Copenhagen?

Your naughty shinblind. I pronounce them    "row -ta -ree"    "car - tee -air"    "sturnz"     "le -voe"      " cop -ee -un"

How about Chauvez? I know people who live out there and pronounce it differently. Some say "show - vee"   some say  "shaw - vez"

How about peoples names. Some say "Shay" while others say "wee - zul".  Some say "Hole - mun"  while others  say  "em-tee-nog-in"

Thanks for your pronunciations and for the additional one of Chauvez Road.  Schoenherr Road is another that I've heard different manifestations through my lifetime.  In both cases, it seems the accepted norm has changed over time, as has the epithets of Shay and Holman.

Older farmers/families in Riverton also use show-vee as the other is too close to Chavez, aka the farming labor leader.

From some of the 4th Ward citizens and elders (to me) on Vanished Ludington-

COP (as in police) ee yuhn, copy-in, cop e yun, Cop-ee-yun   Some even said they knew a Tom Copeyon, and others were friends with the Peter Copeyon family.

Which is ironic as that's how I said it for years, then maybe 5yrs ago was "corrected" to Coh pee yun, so much for that.

And then there's some of younger generations that just called it "O"-Park.

Linguists study that pronunciations can change over time, especially when the spelling of a word does not conform to how one would sound it out after reading it.  That's why Cartier is rarely referred nowadays in what is its proper French way; the same will likely happen with Copeyon unless they re-establish themselves in Ludington (presuming cop-ee-yun is the historically correct way to say it).

Since there is a controversy of the name Copeyon, that Councilor Krauch has clarified as councilor, jury, judge, resolution and ordinance single-handed, maybe we should rename it Krauch Park.  We could use some new signage and webpage designs and make sure to include pronunciation tables because I have heard Krauch's name mispronounced also.

There is a number of people with the name of  Copeyon  on Facebook. just ask them how they pronounce their name.

I tried that.  None of the four I contacted ever replied over a two week period.  I considered going towards the creepy zone and using the phone numbers you can get through 'people-search' websites to call a Copeyon and ask the question.  But in the end, I figured that may not be as reliable as a linguistic approach, recalling one of the themes from Young Frankenstein.

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