he same as our _ss_; while _s_ without the _z_ is
pronounced _sh_. The Hungarian name Szemelenyi under our system of
spelling would therefore be "Semelenye," which is less discouraging.

The foreign names in the United States that really present the most
serious difficulties to the native citizen are unquestionably the Welsh.
Some of the obstacles to easy pronunciation may even in their case be
removed by adaptation to our orthography; as is shown by the name Hwg
("hog"), which would be spelled by us "Hoog." But there are so many
sounds in Welsh that are not only unknown, but almost inconceivable to
English-speaking people, that the difficulties would still be very far
from being overcome. And some of these peculiar utterances are expressed
in Welsh by combinations of the Roman characters which in English stand
for familiar and simple sounds; so that an attempt to reduce the two
languages to a common system of spelling would not be at all easy. The
combination _ll_ stands in Welsh for a terrific gurgling, gasping sound,
which when once heard swiftly puts an end to all the romantic
associations that the name of Llewellyn has derived from history and
poetry.

But all such foreign--or, more strictly speaking, un-English--names,
after being in this country a generation or two, become, in a certain
sense, "acclimated." They undergo a change in pronunciation, in
spelling, or in both, which removes, in effect, the difficulties that
originally characterized them. In this way the German names Schneider,
Meyer, Kaiser, Kraemer, Schallenberger, Schwarzwaelder, and a host of
others have become, respectively, Snyder, Myers, Keyser, Creamer,
Shellabarger, Swartswelder, etc. Sometimes, too, an American name more
or less similar in sound or meaning has been taken or given in place of
the original German title; as when Loewenstein ("Lion-rock") was
exchanged for Livingston, and Albrecht ("Albert") for Allbright.

The old "Knickerbocker" names of the Middle States have, in most
instances, retained their Dutch spelling intact, but have generally been
subjected to a similar process of adaptation in sound. The same may be
said of the French names in this country. Their spelling has, as a rule,
been preserved, while their sound has been Americanized. In this way De
Rosset has acquired the pronunciation Derrozett, and Jacques has come to
be called either Jaquess or Jakes. Many French patronymics, such as the
old South Carolina Huguenot name