Many Illinois place names famously trip up first-timers. Here are 11 tough ones—see if any seem familiar, and try not to stumble over them.
11 Illinois Place Names You’ll Struggle To Pronounce
Cairo — Pronounced “KAY-roh,” not like the Egyptian capital.
Vienna — Locals say “VIE-enna” (“vie” rhymes with “pie”), not “vee-EN-na”.
San Jose — Think “SAN JOE’z,” not the Spanish “San Ho-ZAY”.
Normal — “NOR-muhl” (this one sounds straightforward, but regional accent matters).
Des Plaines — “Dess PLANEZ,” not “day plenn” or “dez plane”.
Waukegan — “Waw-KEE-guhn,” not “wah-KAY-gin”.
Chillicothe — “Chil-uh-KAH-thee,” not “chill-ih-koth”.
Peoria — “Pee-OR-ee-uh,” not “pee-yor-ya”.
Kankakee — “Kan-kuh-KEE,” not “kan-kayk”.
Oglesby — “OH-guhls-bee,” not “og-LES-by”.
La Moille — “La MOYLE,” not “la moy-LEE”.
Most people—natives included—needed a second try before finally getting these right. If any one of these was easy, consider yourself a pronunciation pro.
SOURCES
(https://publish.illinois.edu/pronunciation-guide/)(https://archive.org/stream/pronunciationgui00brow/pronunciationgui00brow_djvu.txt)(https://archive.org/details/pronunciationgui00brow)
(https://publish.illinois.edu/pronunciation-guide/villages/cities/)
(https://www.ibanewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/inba-pronunciation-book.pdf)
