I would be fascinated to know how they know how a particular name was pronounced, given changes across not merely time but also place, and within society.
I think sometimes you can deduce how your ancestors spoke and pronounced words by the way names were written in the records. During the 17th and early 18th centuries we found quite a few girls baptised with the name "Easter" in OH's tree. It was when Esther began appearing in the later records for same family that we realised that Easter was probably how they pronounced it, at least in Leicestershire at that time. In my own tree I have lots of 19th century Henrys in my London families, some of whom appear in the census as "Enery".You can just hear it being said in a Cockney accent! It made me laugh and reminded me of "Enery Cooper".
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