Hi all,
Well my trip is all booked now, but throughout all my planning and booking accommodations, I've been doing it over email etc so realised that some place names may actually not be pronounced that same way as I've been saying it in in my head!

Torrey, UT: is it
TORE-ee
TORR-ee
tor-EE

Moab, UT: is it
MO-ab
Mobe
mo-AB

Chinle, AZ, is it:
CHIN-lee
CHIN-lay
chin-LEE
chin-LAY
chin-ELLE
CHIN-elle
or is the ch pronounced as sh?!

Any help appreciated! Thanks!

moe-AB

chin-LEE

TORE-ee

MO ab

CHIN lee

anymore? this is fun

Wait a minute, better remember that I still have a tiny bit of Southern accent mixed with NY mixed with being here in South America... god knows what I sound like now ! and if I know how to pronounce Anything correctly !

Toe-ray

MO-ab

Chin-lay

I think..

I go with Scarlett on the pronunciation of those places. Want some more places in Utah to figure out the pronunciation of?
Mantua
Tooele
Altonah
Ouray
Neola
Scipio
Parawan

Ha ha! Thanks everyone!

AnnieO - I've no idea, but I'd take an uneducated guess at:
manTOOa
tool
al-TONE-a
OO-ray
ne-OL-a
SKEE-pio
PA-ra-wan

I live in Utah and as far as I know:

Moab = MOW-ab
Chinle = CHIN-lay (I'll double check with a Navajo co-worker)
Torrey = TOR e
Mantua = Man too ah
Scipio = SIP e o
Ouray = U ray (Colorado)
Parowan = Pair o wan (does help if it's spelled right) :_)
Neola = Knee o la

and one of everyone's all time favorites:

Tooele = Too WILL a (Native American word)

You shouldn't have any problem with some of my most favorite Utah place names. These are very descriptive names and are worth visiting!

Muley Twist
Dead Horse Point
Hell's Backbone (a real place, not just a restaurant in Boulder)
Death Hollow
Little Wildhorse Canyon
Goblin Valley
Poison Spider (difficult trail in Moab)

Have fun and it's a good idea you asked. You will be a well-prepared visitor.

Oops - Tooele would be better in a written pronounciation as

Two WILL ah

Now let's see if BarbaraS see this. She's a native.

Guess you need to be certain where the places are; sometimes the same name appears in more than one location, with different pronunciations.

When I moved from California to Virginia, I was corrected in how I pronounced the city name "Buena Vista." I those parts, they called their town "BOON-uh VIS-tuh."

My husband is from northern Ohio. Mantua is a city there, he and the other locals pronounce it "MAN-oo-way." Mostly the "t" is not pronounced. DH was born in Ravenna, OH; he says "Ruh-VANN-uh." So go figure.

I was born in Mukilteo.

Mukilteo's easy!

<---born in Everett

Try "You're-RAY" instead of "OO-ray"

lennyba, I have family in Everett! There are some pretty odd looking place names around that area.

Not often you see Mukilteo on the boards! I grew up in Puyallup and Steilacoom, those are always fun to get people to pronounce.

Oh and I just read that Canyon de Chelly is not Shelly like I always thought, but d'shay (I think).

Well, howdy, Toucan2! I do like those two names. My family settled in Camano Island originally (farm - sold it before the land got so pricey), then resettled in Mukilteo, Anacortes, Everett, Marysville, Westport. Family cemetary in Stanwood. Mostly not so strange names, but I don't often hear them. Thanks for Puyallup and Steilacoom.

MO ab
CHIN lee
TOR e

It is Canyon duh SHAY
QUIuk, so glad you get to visit those places.

Thanks everyone - some great place names out there! One of my favourites is a place i saw on a map in Arkansas called Bald Knob. Not difficult to pronounce, but it means something completely different to us Brits!!

Stokebailey - good to hear from you! I think I replied on a couple of your threads about your trip to London. Did you have a good trip here? Hope so!

Sludick - Is that the old cemetary? I've been by there - my parents live on that east hill above Stanwood.

Sludick, it is surprising how those names will catch your eye, isn't it? Not really tourist destinations often (although I think taking the ferry at Mukilteo may occur occasionally and of course Boeing at Everett). I now life outside a small town, outside of KCMO, and was pretty surprised that my hairdresser had been to Puyallup not once but twice!