Is it Will-is or Will-ies??

Southerners pronounce things different than northerners.
Even if his name Willys was pronounced by him as Willis, I bet his kin up north would pronounce it Willeez. Even if their name and blood was the same. I call my 1929 Hemi powered Willys Overland Whippet all different pronunceations that dont even come close to Willis or Willeez. Alot of times it starts with an F and sounds like Tucker. That doesnt mean it is called that by others. I will call my Whippet a Willeez Whippet .

 

Eh, as long as people know what your talking about who cares how you say it.

 

Its been brought to my attention that Overland is not a family name. This may or may not be true. This is history as I was taught it by my elders and I was not there.
But lets try to set the record straight. The man who designed the 1st Overland was not named Cox Whippet. His name was Claude E. Cox. He was helped in the start up of the company with the financial backing of a man named David M. Parry, who I was told was acting in the interest of the Overland family. The Overland Auotmotive Division was started in 1906, going broke by 1907 and saved by John Willys buying it in 1908. The 1st Whippet wasn't even built until the mid-1920's. It was built to be direct compe***ion for the Model T (which was being replaced by the Model A anyway).
All and all, I agree with rainhater1. Who cares? Call it what you want. I call it a Willys ("willeez"). Most people do.

 

but in those instances, the Y's are buried within the word and not on the end. how many examples do you have where the Y is on the end and are pronounced with a soft i sound?

my grandfather grew tired of people here in america mispronouncing his name. he changed the spelling to more resemble the correct pronounciation

 

My entire life it was always called Willys ("Willeez"). It didn't matter if I was in New England, or in Michigan,Ohio it was still Willys. I moved to South Carolina and the first time I herd someone call it a Will-is I thought I was drunk. Every Southerner I've ever talked to calls it a Will-is. I've gotten used to it, because in the end I could give a **** less.
Great guys in the South, and I'm not about to correct anyone's pronunciation of a word relating to a vehicle, and possibly hurt a friendship.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Where there's a Willys, there's a couple ways to pronounce it.

 

Whats funny is that growing up in California most of my life Willys was pronounced will-eez not willis. The Willys club my dad and grandfather belonged to never called it the willis club. None of my relatives that served in the Army during the 40's and 50's ever called it willis either. It wasn't until I moved to Georgia that I ever heard them called willis. Of course there could be a difference between the jeep Willys and the others. All I know is that I own a will-eez!

 

Claude Cox designed the first Overland while employed by the Standard Wheel Company. He convinced them to begin manufacturing his car. The daughter of the company president suggested the car be called "Overland".

It's a bit silly to argue over something that will never be resolved. I do find it amusing that people will overlook the TV ad that, I'm certain, had the blessings of the parent company where the product is clearly referred to as a "Willis". The ***ertion by another that John Willys didn't know how to pronounce his own name is absurd. My own name, which, like Willys, has six letters and is quite easy to spell and pronounce, yet 90% of people pronounce it wrong. In spite of the, overwhelming majority, they are wrong and I am right.
BTW, the "Y" in Willys is not at the end, it is just before the "S"

 

Willys is old English. Read here for various spellings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys_Baronets

 

It's Will Lust.

 

Willy's, IIRC Willis was a brand from the 20's.

 

OK so I am going to slam my theory down as I was thinking about the YS It isn't Willy's its Willys. Now repeat after me. I fell into the water and sank into the dark Abys (Abyss) Spell checked!!! Damn I thought abyss was one S after the Y until I printed it and then it looked weird so I spell checked it. I thought for sure I had it but....................Im sticking with Willeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!! I never heard of Willis until this site and I even own one. .

 

John, you have ended this whole issue and have failed to be acknowledged.
It's over guys, lie down. Ron

 

John is right. The Willys Baronets link I provided also showed that "i" and "y" were used interchangeably for the surname "Willis." In fact, the link shows the surname appears as Willys, Willis, Wills, and Wyllys. Would you "Willies" proponents insist that last one should be pronounced WeeLees since it has two y's in it?

For more evidence that it is pronounced "willis," here are some soundbites from original Willys commercials. To all the stubbornly stupid on here, please note how it is pronounced "Willis" and not "Willies."

http://mightymo.org/willys_sound_bites.htm

 

The thing about language is that correct pronunciation is whatever is in common use. Oftentimes this is regional. Language wasn't invented by grammarians, m*** media, or Al Gore, it belongs to the people and evolves naturally. Otherwise, we would all speak the Elizabethan English or perhaps Saxon or something else, wouldn't we?

As far as Willys; before this thread, I have only heard one person in my life ever pronounce it "Willis". I remember it because it was a little shocking to me and frankly I just thought they were ignorant. My whole life I have only heard it pronounced "Willeez". I am surprised to find that the manufacturer called it "Willis". But, that doesn't change anything as far as I'm concerned. It's still a "Willeez" to me. That's the common usage where I'm from.

Now, I'm off to take a ride in the Shevvy...hmmm...I wonder how you say "carburetor" in Saxon.

 

I know it's pronounced Will-ess, but when we had a '53 Aero Ace, my Dad called it a Will-eez, and old habits just won't die. Another thing that is always confusing: It had the 161 F-head, and my gearhead friends always asked me, "you mean a flathead?" I'd always explain that they were half right.