How to pronounce "Whelen"?

[am44mag]

I've always pronounced it wee-lynn

[PbHurler]

I love this bit; THANKS R5R!!!!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

townsend was wrong! it is way-len lol just kidding, whatever he said goes/!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I always pronounced it, just like Mr Jenning's pronouces his first name.
listen at 1:50

[Eldon]

Gosh, what could be more important to waste two pages on ? For the uniformed it IS WHALE-EN.

[Traffer]

The tragic part of this thread is that people are taking this seriously. Not enough humor around here.

[swheeler]

For the last 24 years I've just pronounced it THUMPER

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I should add a note that she's from Southeast Texas, so maybe the Whelans everywhere else are pronounced differently. I don't know a real Irishman to ask.

I knew some Irish Whelens that used the whale version, and the character Sperm-whale Whelen in Joseph Wambaugh's "The Choirboys" would lose some point if nobody did. The Irish can certainly handle the difference between wh and w. Confusing those things is a southern English thing. But a lot of pronunciations changed in the New World.

[Char-Gar]

I met Col. Townsend Whelen back in the late fifties at NRA Headquarters. I called him "Col. Wee-lin" and he never corrected me so I would guess that is correct? He was a great man and frankly his writings influenced me a good bit, including my wilderness wandering and cast bullet small game hunting.

FWIW
Dale53

I never met the man, but that is how I pronounce his name based on some others with the same last name. Col. Whelen was/is the absolute pinnacle of gun writers and like you he had a big influence on my life. The man didn't write theory, he wrote experience.

[jerry6stl]

In his later retirement years, as his health deteriorated, the Colonel moved to St. Louis, MO to live with his daughter (1960's). He occasionally shot his rifles at the Benchrest Rifle Club of St. Louis, which was then located in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, MO (near the current Cabela's store; the club later moved to expanded facilities in Wright City, MO). When he did use his last name in conversation, (rarely) he pronounced it "WHEEL-IN."

He gave away several of his rifles to local club members. A few are discussed in the book: MR. RIFLEMAN, by Bradford Angier. That book has been out of print for at least 20 years.

Colonel Whelen also participated in a few public events in St. Louis; some of which were hosted at the premier local St. Louis gun shop at that time, Goodman's For Guns (downtown). He was always willing to chat with everyone. He helped promote benchrest shooting, which was relatively new to St. Louis at that time. A true Gentleman.