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Why is the transcription of (Ralph ) / reif/ ?

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Answer #1

Interesting one. My theory is that some posh person back in time mistook it for Raiph, at a time when posh people were always right, and it stuck. Maybe they weren’t wearing their reading glasses! It wouldn’t surprise me if Cholmondeley (‘chumley’) was the same. The intonation is definitely plummy upper class in both cases. The pronounciation also gives both a sense of eliteness and ‘sophisticated refinement’, but that is changing as the name becomes more widely used. The English working classes and lower middle classes, wd still say Ralph (but the name was historically more common at the middle and upper end - the middle class probably copied the upper, as a way of giving their child a greater air of ‘class’ about them, and perhaps the hope of a better career).

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