Neh-VAD-uh vs Neh-VAH-uh
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You see these stickers and signs all over the place in Nevada and Nevadans aren’t shy about correcting you.
You say poh-tay-toh and I say poh-tah-toh… No, actually, I say po-tay-toh, too. However, I do say Neh-VAH-duh, and they say Neh-VAD-uh. According to Nevadans, the latter is correct and the distinction is important.
The most widely accepted pronunciation of Nevada by its residents is neh-VAD-uh, with the middle "a" sounding like the "a" in "bad" or "mad" and the emphasis on the second syllable. While the Spanish origin of the word pronounces a softer "ah" sound like in ‘father’. I read that the historical migration of Midwesterners to the state in the mid-1800s was responsible for the anglicized pronunciation of "neh-VAD-uh".
Being an Easterner who appreciates the melodic Spanish language as well as history, I bristle whenever someone corrects me on the pronunciation of the state name. Native Nevadans bristle when they hear me pronounce it ‘incorrectly,’ which is, of course, correct to me.
In Spanish, ‘nevada’ translates to snow-covered, as in the snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. Spanish explorers named the region in the early to mid-18th century for the mountains they saw. It was the Spanish explorer and Franciscan missionary Fray Francisco Garcés who is credited with being the first European in the area in 1776, and giving the name to the mountain range. The name Nevada was first officially adopted on March 2, 1861, when the Nevada Territory was created. It was admitted as a state with the same name on October 31, 1864.
I would imagine that in the early years, the Spanish pronunciation would have prevailed. There was no single moment when the pronunciation of Nevada changed, but rather a gradual shift in the 1860s when settlers from the Northern and Midwestern U.S. moved into the Nevada Territory. As native English speakers, they adopted the Spanish word, but pronounced it ‘their’ way. I read that some of the rationale for this pronunciation is that in English, the "a" in many words is pronounced with a short "a" sound, as in "cat" or "mad." This is likely why the pronunciation of the second syllable shifted from "VAH" to "VAD". But in my mind, just as many words pronounce the ‘a’ as ‘ah’ … father, arm, harm, pharmacy, etc. So I’m not sure this is a valid argument.
The New York Times ran an article on the pronunciation of the state name. Seems the ‘natives’ get annoyed when visiting politicians pronounce the name of the state incorrectly… in their estimation. Nevada, by the way, isn’t the only state name whose residents disagree with the pronunciation by non-residents. The list is long… Colorado, Missouri, Florida, and Arkansas, to name a few, and the list goes on. Even Donald Trump, campaigning in Reno in 2016, told Ne-VAH-dans they were pronouncing their state name incorrectly.
I was somewhat mollified when I read this in the NYT. “Though many residents of these states may emphatically disagree, linguists and language experts insist there is no such thing as a “correct” pronunciation.”
Atlas Obscura has commented on the way the state’s name should be pronounced. They conclude that it’s an identity thing.
As for me? I feel I should be let off the hook and given a pass. I’ve lived here on and off for only 9 years, and I’ve had this New England accent of mine for three-quarters of a century. (Really? Yikes!) Most Nevadans couldn’t properly pronounce the name of my hometown (Leicester… that’s Les-tah), and though I’d laugh about it, I wouldn’t get my knickers in a twist. Heck, I still say ‘pa-jah-mahs’ and ‘sis-tah’ for gosh sake. David, by the way, says Colo-RAH-doh, but he also says neh-VAD-uh. Who am I to criticize?