diff --git a/src/orca/orca_gui_prefs.py b/src/orca/orca_gui_prefs.py
index 6d6dd37..7b0216f 100644
--- a/src/orca/orca_gui_prefs.py
+++ b/src/orca/orca_gui_prefs.py
@@ -717,6 +717,10 @@ class OrcaSetupGUI(orca_gtkbuilder.GtkBuilderWrapper):
             self.speechFamiliesModel.append((i, name))
             i += 1
 
+        # Select the first family -- it is usually the default one.
+        #
+        self.get_widget("speechFamilies").set_active(0)
+
         # The family name will be selected as part of selecting the
         # voice type.  Whenever the families change, we'll reset the
         # voice type selection to the first one ("Default").
