Ma-Gyver or MAc-Gyver ..... but never MAC-Gyver. Not a lot of emphasis put on the C ... and sometimes I don't think it's more silent than not. What does everybody else hear and what is the proper Scottish way to pronounce this surname?

I think the C and G tend to roll into one and because they have a similar sound in this particular word it ends up as being MA-Gyver... or at least that's what I hear - and I'm pretty sure that's how I say it too.

I think the coolest way to pronounce it is without a c and really let the 'a' roll a bit and then crunch the G. Pretty sure RDA does this sometimes and then others with a little 'c' inserted and all depending on the context of the introduction. Some of the guest stars have definitely pronounced it with two separate syllables as in Mac-Gyver ... which is probably the proper way it should be pronounced .... albeit a little square. But .... then again, I went to way too many rock concerts in my youth and thus deaf in one ear, and can't hear out of the other (... as they say). Thus the question to 'hear' what others hear.

I used to pronounce it like that as a kid: MaGyver. Than later as I still do now: MacGyver. It's really on the 'G' you have to hear it or crunch it. 'G' 'G'! MacGyver! Silent 'c' obvious than 'G' and roll it out with 'yver'. Mac-Gyver! *MacGyver, MacGyver, MacGyver, MacGyver!* These darned echoes-oes-oes.

Besides the silent 'C' I think that is why it's capital 'G' as well. That's when the roll out start 'Gyver'. Or it's just typical Scottish and Irish way of writing names like McClane. McClane looks nicer than Mcclane or mcclane just as I think Macgyver or macgyver looks silly compared to MacGyver.

It's written like that because Mac is a prefix which denotes the heritage of the name...MAC means son and when put in front of another name it means the son of that name.... So MacGyver would actually mean son of Gyver.

Also both Mac and Mc are used in both Scottish and Irish patronymic surnames despite many believing that Mc is Irish and Mac is Scottish.

Emphasis on the G. Silent C.

I'm guessing the real acid test for this audible is in Good Knight MacGyver and with the contrasting old and new English..... problem is I've fallen asleep each & every time I've tried to watch it. But many have, so interested to 'hear' that feedback .......

It's pronounced differently in German. You hear all the letters.

So when I watched the show in English for the first time two years ago, I was a bit surprised because I'm so used to the German pronounciation - which will never sound as cool as the one in English .

Here's one of the German TV ads back from 1997. Interesting thing is, although all the countries speak German, it's also pronounced a bit differently on every TV channel; depending if it's a German, a Swiss or an Austrian TV station.

It's a different name in that episode - Ma-Iver - which makes absolutely no sense at all because (as far as I can tell) MA isn't a prefix which means the MaIver name would need to have somehow turned into Gyver and then at a later point a son would have had to have put the MAC prefix in front of it to form the patronym MacGyver.



https://www.houseofnames.com/gyver-family-crest

Gyver family crest

Colm gives a bit of a linguistic tutorial at the start of Good Night MacGyver and in where he bites into the 'Mac" with his genealogical hat on, and then again when addressing MacGyver.

I also think that what Dash said is true. It depends on where you're from and how you pronounce it.

Well, it's kind of an interesting conundrum in that it's a rather fictitious surname and so
we need to know/hear how the only owner of it pronounces it first! But (I don't have time right now)
if you were to go through all the episodes, I think you might find that there is some inconsistency
even from that owner. Certainly, the pronunciation of it will vary from country to country.

Incidentally, does anyone remember when John McEnroe was on top of the tennis world and there was a big controversy at Wimbledon one year about how to say his name. I think it was one of the British tabloids that accused him of not knowing how to pronounce his own name.