# pronunciation of the surname VLEEDAM



## AlexanderIII

Dear all,
I've come across a surname that seems to be Dutch. I guess it is pronounced as FL-AY (AY as in the word SAY) -dam (A as U in the word CUP). Is this correct?


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## serbianfan

Yes, that's a good enough approximate pronunciation if you're saying the word in an English sentence. Maybe it's from a story about Jenny Vleedam, because I got a number of Google hits for that...


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## Pedro Paraíso

Indeed, Fle: (with emphasis), but dam more closed (cfr. lamb) without accent.


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## AlexanderIII

Yes, Serbianfan, that's from the story about Jenny Vleedam that is _Call After Midnight _by Mignon G. Eberhart.
Thank you, Serbianfan and Pedro Paraiso.


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## sound shift

Is the stress on the second syllable, as in "Zaandam"?


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## Pedro Paraíso

It depends. In the neighbourhood of this city ('de kop of Noord Holland'/ de part of Holland north of Amsterdam, especially en West-Friesland) people use to stress the second syllabe ( Zaandám, Zeddám, Alkmáár, Obdám ), but in the rest of the dutch country they stress the first syllabe (Záándam). So Zaandám is a dialectica way of expression.


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## sound shift

Thanks.


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