After living in Michigan for a few years now I have realized there are quite a few difficult city names to pronounce and instead of constantly getting them wrong I looked them up. According to a list from Onlyinyourstate.com, here are the top 10 cities that are the hardest to pronounce for people outside of Michigan. Fortunately, if you have lived in Michigan long enough no city or word is that hard to pronounce.

  • 10. Sebewaing - Which is a southeast city, pronounced "See-buh-wing."
  • 9. Charlevoix - Of course you just don't pronounce the x, "Char-luh-voy."
  • 8. Charlotte - Don't make it sound like the city of the same spelling in North Carolina. "Char-lot"
  • 7. Ontonagon - I still can't get this right....its pronounced "ON-ta-NOG-en."
  • 6. Kitch-iti-kipi - Pronounce it phonetically, but even then its not that easy.
  • 5. Hamtramck - If you aren't from Michigan you will not get this right on the first try but just have someone say it and its not that hard. Most people get tripped up with the "mck" at the end.
  • 4. Bois Blanc - Pronounce it like you are speaking French and you can get it.
  • 3. Gratiot - Unless you have been here or near it then you can say it otherwise most will say "Gra-tee-ot" to "Gray-tot,"
  • 2. Ocqueoc - When I first moved here I had a few people mention this and when they spelled it out it doesn't sound like its spelled. "Ah-key-ock" is how it is pronounced though.
  • 1. Ypsilanti - This trips up everyone whether you have heard the city or not. This might be because of the "Y" at the beginning but most pronounce it as an "I" instead of a "Y"

I would like to also add in Keweenaw cause that tripped me up for a while, pronounced "Kee-Wi-Naw"

To see more about hard to pronounce Michigan towns you can see it here. 

Also are there any other that we are forgetting.

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