We were watching movie by Krzysztof Kieslowski and the wife mused, ‘How many consonants have you seen in one name?’

’Knightsbridge’ has six in a row.

There is Mister Mxyztplk from the Superman oeuvre, although that’s a fictional name.

A little googling found these. Not all are placenames or English though.

These are sixes:
AARRGHHS [OSPD], ARCHCHRONICLER, BERGSCHRUND, BORSCHTS, CATCHPHRASE, DORFSCHNEIDER (a surname), ESCHSCHOLTZIA (a genus of poppies), FESTSCHRIFT, FLIGHTSTRIP, FRUCHTSCHIEFER, HANTZSCHIA (genus of diatom), HERTZSPRUNG-RUSSELL DIAGRAM, KAMPSCHROEDER (a surname), KIRSCHSTEINITE, KNIGHTSBRIDGE (a district in London), KOBITZSCHWALDE (a place name in Saxony), KOTZSCHMAR (a surname), KRETZSCHMAR or KRETZSCHMER (a surname), LACHSSCHINKEN, LATCHSTRING, LENGTHSMAN, MALITZSCHKENDORF (a place name in Saxony), MISCHSPRACHE, NACHSCHLAG, POSTPHTHISIC, SIGHTSCREEN, TSKTSKING, VELDTSCHOEN, WATCHSTRAP, WELTSCHMERZ

These are sevens:
HIRSCHSPRUNG’S DISEASE (OED2), SCHTSCHI (variant of shchi, OED2), and TSKTSKS (OSPD3), TSINAMDZGHVRIANT’KARI (a Georgian village), SCHTSCHUROWSKIA (a genus of umbellifer), NIMPTSCHDORF (a place name in Moravia), and the name Angelika KIRCHSCHLAGER

Even more trivial – Istanbul has two continents!

(Incidently, that was Mal aprop of nothing)

Wolfe­schlegelstein­hausenberger­dorffvoraltern­waren­gewissenhaft­schaferswessen­schafewaren­wohlgepflege­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­von­angreifen­durch­ihrraubgierigfeinde­welche­voraltern­zwolftausend­jahres­vorandieerscheinen­wander­ersteer­dem­enschderraumschiff­gebrauchlicht­als­sein­ursprung­von­kraftgestart­sein­lange­fahrt­hinzwischen­sternartigraum­auf­der­suchenach­diestern­welche­gehabt­bewohnbar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wohin­der­neurasse­von­verstandigmen­schlichkeit­konnte­fortplanzen­und­sicher­freuen­anlebens­langlich­freude­und­ruhe­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­angreifen­von­anderer­intelligent­geschopfs­von­hinzwischen­sternartigraum has hundreds of consonants.

My Uncle Herbert’s family had four continents and one incontinent (he was O.K. most of the time, but tended to lose control after one or two over the eight)

For those quart behind Lionello’s eight-ball and unfamiliar with pints, this may help:  http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/271100.html

PS I was about to add that, ‘after the 8th drink one probably doesn’t care a continental.’

However, this caused me to question how the familiar expression, “I don’t care a continental,’ came about. 
For the curious see: http://mess1.homestead.com/Nineteenth_Century_Slang_Dictionary.pdf (under ‘Continental’)

We’ve got to beware of Y’s in these examples.  For fictional names I’ll go along with Bftsplk if we’re going for a high consonant to vowel ratio.  He was a character in Al Capp’s Li’l Abner.  He was always traveling around with a rain cloud over his head.

The one I gave isn’t a fictional name…

As far as phonemes go, Krzysztof only has five that are consonants.

If one allows that ‘y’ is not a vowel then the placename “Kyrgyzstan” has eight uninterrupted consonants in a row.

"Y” may sometimes be a consonant in English, but I think that in that country it wouldn’t be.  Disallowed.

(actually, even in English, the letter “Y” functions as a vowel in “Kyrgyzstan” --- doesn’t it?)

I would look for multi-consonant words in Czech. The Czech language seems to be wonderfully sparing with vowels.

Or Cymraeg. What about Llanfairpwll.... and similar names?

Except that w (pronounced “oo” in Welsh) is a vowel too. Otherwise the Welsh for ‘beer”, cwrw, would be a vowel-less mess.

Zythophile - 19 February 2013 07:55 AM

Except that w (pronounced “oo” in Welsh) is a vowel too. Otherwise the Welsh for ‘beer”, cwrw, would be a vowel-less mess.

It does in English as well. In words like “Brown” and “cow” the existence of the W signifies a diphthong: “ah” plus “oo”. Also in the word “drew”, though not a diphthong, just a straight “oo” sound. I wonder whether this use of “w” as a vowel (or to represent a vowel sound) is a Welsh inheritance. In the etymology for the adjective “brown” in the OED, for example, every language shown as the word’s ancestor uses the “u” to represent what we use the “w” for (German braun).  Phoneticists would understand this better than I.

One of my favorite hymn tunes is CWM RHONDA, pronounced, of course, coom.