Baron de Villiers

Baron de Villiers, of Wynberg in the Cape of Good Hope Province and the Union of South Africa, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1910 for the prominent South African lawyer and judge John de Villiers. He served as Chief Justice of South Africa between 1910 to 1914. As of 2010 the title is held by his great-grandson, the fourth Baron, who succeeded his father in 2001.

Asked how to say his name, the third Baron told The Literary Digest: "In England it is pronounced 'Villars.' But the pronunciation which is used by English-speaking South Africans, and which I myself use, would be written duh vil'yers. There is a suspicion of an i sound between the l and the y." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)