Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 13:14:07 GMT From: "Warren A. Brewer" Subject: Is this the Hoar house? Had an uncle surnamed Hoar. Insisted on pron. like . All his sons (now fiftyish or older) namechanged to Oarre. Knew a Fuchs once. Insisted on [fju:ks]; rarely got it from strangers. Know of three Kochs who've done interesting things with their names. One ran into trouble with corporate lawyers when he tried to change his name to Mr. Coke-Is-It (sp?) several decades ago. Another was a building contractor in Santa Rosa, CA, whose business card spelled Koch with a macron over and insisted on a rhyme with . And then there's the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch. (kotch, rh.w/ Scotch). At least with Fuchs or Koch, we could say it's interlingual tabu avoidance; Mary Haas's idea?