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This name always gave me trouble as a child, so much that I sometimes still second guess myself! Perhaps I found confusion in the simplicity? With the recent proliferation of the “barre” fitness craze, I can only guess that the mispronunciation of this Harleston Village  street will perpetuate.

Unlike your favorite “barre” fitness class, Barre is pronounced like “BARRY”  when you’re referring to this Charleston Street. 

The Cooper River is a major geographic feature of the Charleston area, separating peninsular Charleston from Mount Pleasant (or, as old-school Charlestonians still refer to it, “East of the Cooper”).

The pronunciation of one is up for debate, as no one will bat an eye if you call it  the “COO-per” River. But those who’ve been around for a while know that the proper wayto pronounce this is “CUH-per” (or, if you are one of the few with an old Charlesotn accent, “Cuh-pa”). 

Obviously, this one hits close to home for me! But where you’ll most often see this name is in relation to Charleston’s Gaillard Performance Hall, currently under construction and due to open in 2015.

Occasionally, you’ll find someone with an old Charleston accent say something  that sounds like Gee-YAHD, but Gaillard is most commonly (and correctly) pronounced 

“GILL-YARD. 

Hasell Street is prominent in the historic downtown neighborhood of Ansonborough, cutting  from Meeting Street all the way over to East Bay.

It’s pronounced just like you would say the name, “HAZEL.” 

Huger Street is best known as the thoroughfare that runs through the middle of the Hampton  Park Terrace neighborhood in Charleston’s upper peninsula. 

This is pronounced “YOU-GEE” (“gee” as in “gee-whiz”). You’ll also hear people say, “Hugh-Gee,” which is commonly accepted. 

Legare Street: In addition to being one of the most coveted streets in all of historic Charleston, it is one of the most frequently mispronounced. In fact, newcomers ask me how to pronounce this more than any other old Charleston name.  I've heard called la-GARE and la-GARRY--and can you blame them? The actual pronunciation is nothing like it looks!

Legare is pronounced: "LA-GREE" (rhymes with "degree"). 

This is pronounced “PRAY-LO.” 

This is a common French Huguenot name in Charleston (as I  am realizing is the origin of most of the strangely-pronounced names around here, including  my own last name). You might meet someone with “Prioleau” as a last name, or perhaps you’ll visit the City Gallery at Waterfront Park located on Prioleau Street downtown. 

Simons Street cuts across Rutledge Avenue, connecting Wagener Terrace and North Central  Neighborhoods. Artistically inclined College of Charleston students may have a class in the  Simons Arts Building. And… you’ll also find Simons on my driver’s license—it’s my middle name!

This may look like “SI-mons,” but it’s actually pronounced just like you would say “Simmons.” 

There are locals who will tell you (emphatically) that this name is pronounced with two syllables: “VAN-DROSS” (or "VAN-DRAWS," depending on the accent of the accent of the speaker).  With this seemingly insider knowledge, many go on their way feeling happily in the know about how to say this Charleston name. 

However, I’ve heard more than one old Charlestonian insist that this is pronounced just like it looks (“VAN-DER-HORST”) and that the “VAN-DROSS” pronunciation is a mid-to-late 20th century movement, which picked up steam when Kiawah Island (previously owned by the Vanderhorst family for nearly two century) ownership changed in the 1950s and again in the 1970s, and, presumably the "Vanderhorst" name was in the news. 

 So which is it? 

I consulted one of my favorite books, and the only one I know of on the subject of pronunciations of South Carolina names, and it reports that both are correct, though it does point out that the street name in Charleston is pronounced "VAN-DROSS" (this book was first published in 1983). 

So, my conclusion is that both pronunciations ("VAN-DROSS" or "VAN-DER-HORST") are acceptable, but, personally? I tend to go old school and use the more traditional “VAN-DER-HORST.”