Pronunciation: Well, there seems to be a constant confusion about how the name 'McKeown' is properly pronounced - even amongst the people whose name actually is McKeown (see also the McKeown Family Genealogy Forum). And there are certainly several variants in use in different parts of the world. However, as the name has its origins in Ireland, one would consider the Irish pronunciation to be the 'proper' one, right?

On the forum mentioned above a description is as follows:

"The first part of the name, the "Mc" and the "K" sounds kind of melt into one sound - "mick", which ryhmes with "lick" but is slightly shorter.

Then, the second part of the surname, I suppose the "eown" part, is pronounced "yone", rhyming with "lone", so the whole pronunciation could be written as "mick yone". "

As words certainly are pronounced differently in the Swiss-German speaking part of Switzerland compared to English speaking countries we tend to use sort of a 'localised' pronunciation here - to avoid part of the confusion (but leaving enough room for some more, that's for sure...). It could be described as: "Me-ke-oun" (not to be pronounced in English but rather in Swiss-German).

But then, this is also exactly the way an Irish guy once told me they would pronounce McKeown in Ireland, so maybe it is not just the Swiss way but the right way? Well, the confusion remains...