The Visitors Guide To Prouncing These Weird Wyoming Town Names
If you see the name of a Wyoming town and are not sure how to pronounce it, or are laughed at when you try to say it in a way that seems obvious, don't fret.
There are several Wyoming town names that are hard for some very odd reason.
One town name is Wyoming is mispronounced intentionally.
I'll do the best I can to sound out the name phonetically.
Meeteetse (Me - teet - see)
The name is said to derive from an Indian phrase meaning “meeting place.” But another story says Meeteetse, literally translated, means “measured distance near and far.”
Wapiti (Wha - pi - tee)
Careful on the middle part. Not PIE but Pi, as in PIT.
The town is named after the Cree Indian word for elk.
Kemmerer (Kem - mer - er)
That one is easier to sound out once you break it down into parts. The town was named after a financial backer of Pennsylvania coal magnate Mahlon S. Kemmerer.
The town of BILL is NOT pronounced WILLIAM! (Just saying).
Wamsutter (WAM - sut - ter)
Not "WARM." Use the AH sound for the WAM part.
Originally, the town was known as Washakie. Confusion with nearby Fort Washakie prompted an 1884 name change to Wamsutter, after a Union Pacific bridge engineer.
Washakie (Wash - a - key)
This one makes a lot of people stutter. It looks like Was - sak - ie. But it's actually a different emphasis.
The county's name comes from Chief Washakie, whose tribe often wintered in the Bighorn Basin.
OPAL (OH - PAL)
Not OH - PAUL like the stone.
Say it with a short "A" as in "Ah, there is my close friend!" OH-PAL.
I have no idea why the townspeople are mispronouncing that world.
As for how the town got its name: Mr. Robinson was giving them a tour of the ranch, the promoter suddenly stopped, picked up a peculiar stone, and began to examine it. Mr. Robinson said, “It's an Opal.” Other specimens found later on in the area were also considered to be opal, and thus the area was referred to as Opal.
Vedawoo (Vee - da - Voo).
Not a town but a place with a name that really looks confusing.
Togwotee (Toge - A - Tee).
The origin of the name “Togwotee” means “lance thrower” or “exactly there,” from an Indian lance-throwing game.
Popo Agie (Po Po Sha)
Not Po Po Ag Ee like you think you see. This pronunciation is way off of the way it looks.
Ethete (Eee Tha Tea).
In the Shoshone language, Ethete ("good" or "OK").
Here is the one that is mispronounced intentionally.
Dubois (DOO - BOYS)
This is actually a French name pronounced DOO- B- WA.
But the people of the town pronounce it Don't feel bad about getting that one wrong. The pronunciation is a protest.
The people of the town had applied for town status and so a senator from Utah showed up to help them file the paperwork.
He hated the name they picked for the town so he named it after himself.
His last name is French and is pronounced DOO-B-WA!
To get him back for this the people of the town, to this day, mispronounce it.
They say DOO-BOYS.