How do _you_ pronounce Stanhopea?
 

I have always pronounced it:
stan-hope-e-a
pronouncing both of the final two characters, long e, short a (ah).

I was reading somewhere yesterday, I think an AOS web page where it was said, that while the pronunciation that I use is common, the correct pronunciation is:
stan-hope-ah
the e is not pronounced.

The AOS pronunciation makes sense. Do others agree and how do _you_ pronounce Stanhopea?

Like you, I have always used Stan-HOPE-ee-uh, but as it is named after someone whose surname was "Stanhope", the AOS recommendation should be proper.

Then there's one of my favorites: neofinetia.

I have heared Nee-oh-fin-EESH-ah and Nee-oh-fin-eh-TEE-ah, but the French botanist's name is pronounced Fee-Nay, so I suppose it ought to be Nee-oh-fee-NAY-ee-ah

David,
Your pronunciation of Stanhopea is correct as far as I know. In fact, I've never heard it pronounced the way the AOS states it should be.

Ray,
I have also heard both versions of Neofinetia, but was corrected one time by Les Kawamoto's son (I wish I could remember his name) of Kawamoto Orchids in Hawaii. Ever since then I have pronounced it Nee-oh-fin-EESH-ah instead of Nee-oh-fin-eh-TEE-ah, as I had been saying.

Steve,

Sorry, but I have to disagree. Just because "experts" say it one way, that doesn't mean it's correct.

When an honorific name is applied to a genus or species, the name should be pronounced just as the person that it honors does (or did).

For example, there are a number of genera named after the American botanist, Oakes Ames. His last name is prounced just like "aims". One of those genera is "amesia", which is properly pronounced Aims-ee-ah, even though it could be improperly done as Ah-Mee-see-ah.

What was the French botanist's actual name?

Very true!! I forgot to mention that I'm not really sure of the correct way to say Neofinetia, just that I say it one way and not the other after someone laughed at me. lol

Achille Finet

Finet is not exactly pronounced Fee NAY, americans love to make the 'et' sound much stronger than it actually is. 'et' is actually pronounced like the first e in the words 'estate' or 'esteem'.
And in France I have mostly heard it prononced with the 't' being audible, so Nee-oh-fin-eh-TEE-ah. In Finet's name the t is silent, but usually with words like that once you add a vowel after it the t is pronounced. This is also getting into the issues of botanical names being pronounced a bit differently in different language. I frequently say orchid names the 'frenchified' way, because that's how I learned plant names in my botany classes in France...

Well this is some good information!! I guess I'll have to change the way I pronounce Neofinetia to Nee-oh-fin-eh-TEE-ah. Thanks! :bowing

It's not necessarily the 'right' way to pronounce it in English though. Each language tends to adapt the the pronunciation a bit. There is also more variation in pronunciation of plants named after people. For instance, for Paph rothschildianum I believe that in English the 'child' part is pronounced with a long 'i' sound. In French it's with more of an 'e' sound, like in the word 'me'.

But I don't think pronunciation is the most important. As long as we use the right names and can make ourselves understood, I think it's all that really matters. Even among scientists we don't pronounce things the same. Many of us in my research group work with a butterfly genus called Pieris (white cabbage butterflies). Some of us say Pee-riss, others say Pee-er-iss while a few people say Pie-russ.