How to pronounce Taliaferro?

[Francesco Spreafico]

Hello!

I've alwayd pronounced Taliaferro, as if it were an Italian name (and maybe
actually is), that is "Talley-ah-Pheroh".. but I just found something
different in a book (that has nothing to do with "our" Taliaferro) I'm
reading and now I wonder...
I'll quote a couple of paragraphs (please anybody, don't take offence for
some.. cliches, I'm just quoting :)

[talking about a guy name Tolliver...]
'Hey! It says here: "See also Taliaferro."'
'That's the original spelling, but it's pronounced "Tolliver" just the same'
'Are you sure?'
'Quite sure. At least south of the Mason and Dixon Line back dirtside [FS:
they're in space]. Spelling it "Tolliver" suggets poh white trash who can't
spell. Spelling it the long way and then sounding all the letters sounds
like a Johnny-come-lately damyankee whose former name might have been
"Lipschitz" or such. The authentic plantation-owning, nigger-whipping,
wench-humping aristocrat spelled it the long way and pronounced it the short
way'
[from "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls", Robert Anson Heinlein, 1985]

So.. is all this right? And does anybody know how he pronounced his name?

Sprea