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How do you pronounce GHEEN?

How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 7 Mar 2013 5:36AM GMT
Classification: Query
My g-grandmother was a Gheen from one of the lines said to come from Chester County, Pennsylvania. I've never heard it pronounced and don't know the ancestral origins of the name. Can anyone fill me in?

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 8 Mar 2013 3:27PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 8 Mar 2013 3:28PM GMT
Surnames: Gean/Jean/Jane/Jayne (e, es, s) Families
It is not a family I have traced too far back, but my impression of how it is pronounced would be like the surname Gean/Geen (which sounds like Jean). I say this because at least one Gheen line changed the spelling to Gean/Geen and I have seen in documents where it is often spelled as Gean/Geen. They sometimes get mixed in with the Gean/Jean family I researched in NC, so I have done a little research on the ones in NC.

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 8 Mar 2013 3:49PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 8 Mar 2013 3:50PM GMT
Thank you for your thoughts. I wonder if the NC group pronounces it similarly to the group in PA, or if there are regional differences. In my mind, I was pronouncing it with a hard G, as if to rhyme with Green, but without the 'r'. Understanding how it might have been pronounced can be helpful in looking for alternate spellings in the records, especially as one reaches back into earlier settlements in the Colonial and early United States period. If it is pronounced as one might pronounce the name or clothing "Jean", that could very well lead to entirely different records. I had also considered that it could be pronounced with two syllables, as if it was Ge-in or Je-in. I have not personally done the research, but there are some trees that suggest that the origins of the name reach back to Ireland, and that the original spelling was Gahagan and I'm curious of the pronunciation of that and how that might have morphed into Gheen.

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 8 Mar 2013 5:56PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gean/Jean/Jane/Jayne (e, es, s) Families
The line in NC were furniture makers and are supposed to have origins in PA, but I haven't researched them outside of NC, so I can't say for sure. Here are two articles about the James Gheen of Rowan Co., NC who I have researched.

http://www.robertpearlantiques.com/jamesgheen.html
http://www.websitewiz.com/genealogy/pdf/gheen_sk.pdf

To be honest, I generally use a hard "G" myself when I see it, but with a southern accent it may have transformed over time.

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 8 Mar 2013 6:58PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for the links. Very interesting reading and beautiful craftmanship!

The one article suggests a connection to Chester County, PA, which is where my ancestor was born before moving west.

I wonder if any of the gentlemen still carrying the Gheen surname have considered some Y-DNA testing. Because my line is not directly father to son I don't know of anyone to submit for such testing. My line is Gheen male, female, male, female, female, so it doesn't work for Y-DNA. I have, however, recently had autosomal testing done at FTDNA and have found a surprisingly high number of matches to the south which had me stumped, especially because those lines stretched back into the 1700s when all of my earlier US folks were living in NY, NJ, and PA. With the James Gheen connection in the south, I will have to check to see if any of his descendants surnames match up to those within my matches on the autosomal DNA test. So far, I do not have any matches with anyone listing the Gheen surname.

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 14 Jun 2013 5:50PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gheen
I have just returned from a trip to Ireland. Was able to quickly search a data base listing marriage records for County Antrum in Northern Ireland ca 1700. There is one Gheen listed. Did not have access to any of the details. But I think it proves that the spelling is correct (long been debated) and suggests that the Protestant Gheens who came to Salisbury NC may have been a part of the Scotch-Irish who settled in that area. Other Salisbury families in that same area who were known to have had Scotch roots were Gillespies, Lawsons, Armstrongs and others.
For Rowan researchers, this might be an important clue.?

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 5 Apr 2014 10:45AM GMT
Classification: Query
This is an interesting topic. I am researching Gheens descended from William and his wife Narcissa Suddeth or Suddith. My grandmother's maiden name was Gheen. She was descended from William, James and Linus, her father. She left an ancestry chart that might be helpful with the pronunciation. The original spelling that I have found from William Gheen (b. about 1780 and lived in Virginia) was as I have spelled it. My grandmother spelled it with an S (Gheens) as it seems to have been pronounced Gaines. Later her brother changed his spelling of it to Gaines and she followed suit. I now pronounce it as the English word Gain and spell it Gheen. Most of my communication with others is written but the few I've talked to also pronounce it Gain. I'm sure there are plenty of variations.

Bill Piper

Re: How do you pronounce GHEEN?

Posted: 5 Apr 2014 1:44PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you. That was a pronunciation I hadn't considered and will be helpful to all of us as we are searching the records.

Since I first wrote this post, I have entered into autosomal DNA testing. I have isolated some DNA for my John Gheen's wife, so hopefully in time I'll isolate my Gheen DNA. :)
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