Welsh weather presenter Liam Dutton pronounced Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch during his Channel 4 News weather report, and quickly went viral. His smooth pronunciation is impressive to those who have never heard the name before, but it’s also a fun fact that this village in Anglesey, in North Wales, is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the United Kingdom’s longest place name. That’s 58 letters.
In Welsh, the name means, “Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio of the red cave”. It breaks out like this: St. Mary’s Church (Llanfair) in the hollow (pwll) of the white hazel (gwyngyll) near (goger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrndrobwll) at the church of St. Tysilio (llantysilio) with a red cave (gogo goch).
There’s pronunciation help here. If you want to pronounce it in English, try saying “Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-chwurn-drob-ooll-llantus-ilio-gogo-goch”, or go with the locals and say Llanfairpwll or Llanfair.
Bonus fact: There’s an even longer place name on the planet. A Māori-named hill overlooking Hawke Bay, New Zealand has a name with 85 letters: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
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