A German "u" is always pronounced like an English "oo". Doubling consonants in German, however, means that the preceding vowel should be pronounced short. Have look at this dictionary, which also has the pronounciation http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed§Hdr=on&spellToler=&search=mutter http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed§Hdr=on&spellToler=&search=Dutt I also did some research on the family name Duttenhofer. I first looked for "Duttenhofer" and "Duttenhöfer". Later, I found that the spelling "Dudenhöfer" also exists. Some people extract the telephone book to get statistics about the distribution of family names. See for example http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen (type in a name to get links to maps) http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/duttenh%25C3%25B6fer.html http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/duttenhofer.html http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/dudenh%25C3%25B6fer.html The Duttenhofers live predominantly in the south west of Germany. And then, there is a place named "Dudenhofen" http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dudenhofen&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=26.131022,28.256836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dudenhofen,+Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis,+Rheinland-Pfalz&ll=49.312813,8.414841&spn=0.211288,0.351563&z=12