All Over The Map: Settling the debate over how to pronounce Hobart
Feb 28, 2020, 7:59 AM | Updated: 9:54 am
A topographic map from 1913 shows where Hobart is, but gives no clues as to how the name of the community was pronounced. (US Geological Survey)
(US Geological Survey)
Hobart marks yet another local area to join Mountlake Terrace and Des Moines on the list of places around here where a quiet yet persistent debate continues over the correct pronunciation of the community鈥檚 name.
Tim Green lives in Tacoma now, but he has deep roots in southeast King County.
鈥淢y great-great-grandparents were among the earliest pioneer settlers in what we now call Hobart,鈥� Green said earlier this week at a meeting of 聽in Maple Valley. The way Green said 鈥淗obart,鈥� it sounded like 鈥淗O-bert.鈥�
鈥淚t’s become Hobart,鈥� Green said, this time pronouncing it 鈥淗O-BART.鈥�
鈥淏ut in the early days, all of the local residents in the area called it ‘Hobart.'”
Again, this time, Green said 鈥淗O-bert.鈥�
And Tim Green should know.
鈥淢y grandfather was born in Hobart 1899, his parents married there in 1891, and his grandparents were there by 1880,鈥� Green said. 鈥淭hey were among the first three men who came to Maple Valley and gave it its name, but they settled farther to the east of Maple Valley.鈥�
Green says Hobart was named for Garret Augustus Hobart. Hobart was vice president under President William McKinley; he died in office 1899, right around the same time that Hobart, Wash., was getting its first post office.
In his quest to get answers about the correct pronunciation of that long-ago vice-president鈥檚 name, Green even went searching in Hobart鈥檚 native state of New Jersey. He wasn鈥檛 able to find anyone who could say how Garret Hobart said his own name. 成人X站 Radio also searched this week for descendants of Hobart, but came up empty.
At least three other people 鈥� also old-timers 鈥� at the meeting in Maple Valley agreed with Tim Green and acknowledged that they, too, use what鈥檚 become a nearly forgotten pronunciation for Hobart. Green and the others agreed that the shift to 鈥淗O-BART鈥� probably began sometime during or after World War II, as large numbers of new people moved to the area.
The Hobart here in King County isn鈥檛 the only Hobart on the planet. Hobart, Australia, dates to the early 18th century, and was named for Robert Hobart, the 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire. Down under, they say 鈥淗O-BART.鈥�
It turns out there鈥檚 a Hobart a bit closer to home, too.
At the Hobart, Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Joann Metros set the record straight.
鈥淚鈥檓 a native here, so I鈥檝e grown up my entire life, and everybody calls it Hobert [鈥榟o-BERT鈥橾 who鈥檚 from here,鈥� Metros said. 鈥淎nybody outside of Hobart always refers to it as Hobart [鈥楬O-BART鈥橾.”
Meanwhile, Danielle Hanna is a librarian at the Hobart Branch of the Lake County Library. She told me her town was named in the 19th century after founder George Earl鈥檚 brother Hobart Earl. As she spoke by phone to 成人X站 Radio earlier this week, library patrons eavesdropping on Hanna鈥檚 conversation weighed in.
鈥淥K now, everybody here is arguing with me,鈥� Hanna said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all behind me saying, 鈥榥o, no,鈥� but my mother is 79 years old, and when she went to school in Hobart [鈥楬O-bert鈥橾 they always corrected them and said 鈥楬obart,鈥� that it鈥檚 pronounced 鈥楬O-BART.鈥� But all the locals here say it鈥檚 pronounced 鈥楬O-bert.鈥欌��
A quick check of to Washington state place names published by WSU in the 1960s adds even more confusion to the mix by claiming it’s 鈥淗OH-bahrt.鈥�
Feeling lost? Maybe just wait a few decades, and “HO-bert” may once again become the right way to say Hobart in Washington, Indiana, and maybe even Australia.
