Department of Linguistics, Rutgers University
Rm 205A, 18 Seminary Pl, New Brunswick, NJ
adam.jardine@rutgers.edu
I get a lot of questions about my last name. Below are answers to some of them. I'll probably add some more in the future.
I say [ˌd͡ʒɑɹˈdiːn] (jar-DEEN); i.e., it rhymes with "sardine".
Other pronunciations with initial stress, i.e., [ˈd͡ʒɑɹdɪn] and [ˈd͡ʒɑɹdin], are also apparently possible, especially in Scotland (where, obviously, it would be pronounced with the tap [ɾ] and not the approximant).
Pronunciations I've gotten that are right out are [ˌd͡ʒɑɹˈdɪniː], [ˌʒɑɹˈdæn] (or some other approximation of the French word jardin), [xarˈðine] (the Spanish pronunciation), and, perplexingly, [ˌd͡ʒɑɹˈdo͡ɪniː].
No, actually, it's Scottish. It is, however, ultimately derived from the French jardin 'garden'. The name came to the British Isles during the Norman Conquest in the 11th century.
My great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland through Ellis Island in the 1910s. Interestingly, my grandmother had always insisted that he came to the US illegally by sneaking across the Canadian border, but my father discovered records from Ellis Island that prove otherwise.
No, although he does have a son named Adam!
Probably not. I hope not.
Yup, that's my dad!