Ken Loo brought up a good point. Just how is "Austin" spelled? Both in English and Japanese, it has two spellings.

Austin, the city where I live, the capital of Texas, is named after Stephen F. Austin. Austin is his family name. It is spelled the same way as "Austin Powers" who has it as his personal name. Austin is an unusual personal name. I've never known anyone else to have it.

However, the author Jane Austen, spelled her family name differently, with an "e" instead of an "i".

Anyway, 日本語で Austin (the city) used to be spelled オースチン, but now it's spelled オースティン。The new spelling should help you pronounce the second syllable like "ten" and not "teen" or "chin". I still think it's really strange that the first syllable is rendered with an オ. In Texas, we pronounce it like the "aw" in "Aw, shucks!" or like "Open your mouth and say 'Ahhh'." It doesn't sound anything like "Oh!"

My family name has undergone the same transformation. In 1989, I learned to spell it スチーブンス. But now I'm made to spell it スティーブンス。In English, I spell it "Stevens", but other families spell it "Stephens". Whenever I give my name, I always have to explain, "It's S-T-E-V-E-N-S."

質問とコメント

Here's a page from the University of Texas site that spells Austin both ways.

And here' another site with some nice photos of cattle in bluebonnets and Austin's most famous homeless man, Leslie Cochran. Leslie has run for mayor of Austin, but hasn't won...yet.