Only two people have pronounced my name correctly in front of me. It is pronounced White lee. Most people cannot spell it corectly either. Seems straight forward but that is not my experience, nor the experience of any family member I have talked to.

The ending ley is old English for the middle English word leigh, and modern english forest. So my name comes from the White Forest.

I think that we should all be named Smith, just to make things easier! :)


>I see Tracy gave you the links.
>
>My surname seems to be spelled many ways. According to US immigration records it was originally spelled 'Kuijper', but changed to 'Kuyper' on arrival in the US. Most Americans have problems pronouncing Kuyper (the 'uy' together seems to cause confusion even though they have no problems with 'guy'). I can't imagine how they would try to pronounce Kuijper!
>
>>Hi bruce,
>>
>>>>I did not know you could read dutch :)
>>>>
>>>
>>>Radio Netherlands has a nice english language site with what appears to be a typical mix of stories (popular, politics, sports, etc).
>>>
>>>I enjoy visiting that site since all my great-grand-parents immegrated from the Netherlands.
>>
>>Yes, I could have guessed from your surname. I've got a friend with the same surname (kuiper).
>>Could you give me a link ?
>>
>>Walter,