V or not a V

The sound between the letter B and the letter V can, many times, be similar. As a child I recall hearing my mother on the phone, and when she pronounced our last name, "Hovel", she would then spell it out "H-O-V, as in Victor,-E-L."  I use the same language today when spelling out my last name.  Confusion can often result over the pronunciation of the last name and the way it is spelled, spelling it out in this manner takes care of part of the potential confusion.  Is it a difficult last name to pronounce?  Even immediate family members do not share the same pronunciation.

1877 Martin Hovel marriage record
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society

The issue of the middle letter of the last name, is it a V or not a V, comes into play in two historical government (in the United States) records.  First, is the marriage license of my great grandfather Martin and his wife Amelia Duscheck.  The marriage license, written by a clerk, has his name spelled as "Habel", not Havel, Hovel, or even its then apparent spelling of Hawel in Czech records (which is odd, because it does not appear that W exists in the Czech language).  Second, is a Declaration of Intention by Martin's father, my great great grandfather, Josef Havel.  The name is spelled as Habel, but corrected to be Havel.  The last name is clearly signed as Havel.   This brings up the question of pronunciation of the last name.   Did Martin and Josef pronounce the last name in such a manner that the clerk spelled the as it sounded: H-A-B-E-L?  Given the confusion that can exist between pronunciation of a V and a B (why we use "Victor"), the use of the B can perhaps be discounted, but what is important is the use of A sound. That leads to the question of how best to pronounce the "O" in the last name.  The earliest record I have found for my (probable) ancestors uses what appears to be Hawel.   This 1703 Bohemian Roman Catholic marriage record is for Simon Hawel and his wife (Elizabetha), and identifies Simon as the son of Georgy Hawel.

Joseph Hovel citizenship record (1869)
Source;  UW Whitewater archives

My father had always said the last name is pronounced like "novel", but with an H, in other words like use of an ah for the letter O.  This is the way I pronounce the name today.  The historic use of an A in writing (as described above) which is likely from pronunciation, would seem to indicate a last name using an "a" related sound in pronunciation.  Often times the "a" sound when I pronounce the name is for naught as people have a tendency to emphasize the O; think of the pronunciation of  shovel, but without the S.   I have an older brother who pronounces it with emphasis on the 'o" as do distant cousins in Iowa and Northwest Wisconsin.  There is also the common tendency to pronounce the name as in Ho (line above or the long o) as in the greeting of Santa Claus--Ho Ho Ho.  My eldest son's birth due date was to be December 24, and by being born three weeks early he missed having the elegant (written) alliterative nature of the name Homer Howard Hovel even with an "ah" sounding O seems pretty neat.  While I suggested the name in deference to the Santa greeting, for some reason I get the feeling my wife did  not like that name.  Did she secretly wish for an early birth to avoid having to name her first child Homer?  But, I digress.  If Martin had pronounced the name using the sound in shovel or a ho sound the clerk would have written the name as Hobel or Hovel. Instead Habel, would seem to back up my father's pronunciation of it like novel but with an H.  I suppose it is possible that both Martin and Josef spelled out the name, but with a foreign accent the t the pronunciation of a V as a B was affected.

Marriage Record of Simon Hovel identifies him as son of Georgius, 8 July 1703
Source:  Czech Digital Records, Lhenice 1 image 102

The word hovel in English is a shed or storage building.   The first pronunciation of the English word "hovel" is as if in "shovel,"  At some point our current last name was seemingly Americanized, and another post may perhaps detail some of the history of our last name.  There are residents in Wisconsin whose family came from England and share the same last name and spelling of "Hovel".  The name in Bohemia, from where my ancestors originated, is spelled as Havel or Hawel.  What is apparent is that the meaning of the Havel in Czech is certainly more noble than the English definition.  Havel is a Bohemian version of the name Gall or Gallus (Roman) which originates from Saint Gall (abt. 550-646).  St. Gall, of Irish descent, was one of the companions of St Columbanus, and together brought learning back to the European continent after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Czech Index Record for marriage of Simon notice date for record
Index, book 50 of digital records
(One reason research is difficult--look at letter formation)

What is interesting in the last name is its relation to geography.  It is reported that the Celts of Ireland actually are descendants from what Julius Caesar referred to as the Boii, north of the Alps.  The geographic name Bohemia is derived from Boii.  So, our last name (Havel and Americanized as Hovel) in recognizing the Irishman St. Gall would also recognize that the Celts who originated from the Central European tribes known as the Boii.  By what appears to be an Americanization of the spelling of our last name did our ancestors intend to differentiate the pronunciation from that in the old country, or was it more to assimilate to American culture?  Our ancestors were not WASP's, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, instead they were of Slavic descent and Roman Catholic, and in this situation would be subjected to the era common prejudices against Slavs and Catholics.  We may never know the reason why the spelling of the name was changed for many in the family.  What we do know is that, in the end, if Josef and Martin had used "V as in Victor" there may not have been confusion with a "B",  and the discourse over pronunciation over the letter O in the name will continue despite what I believe to be historical records to the contrary.