Try not to mispronounce names

If you don’t have an English sounding name, the chances are that, in a Western country, it's almost always mispronounced. Take my name, for instance. I think it's easy enough but it has not only been mispronounced but misspelt too. It’s been spelt Birjis, brijesh, birgees and birgit. And some of the pronunciations have been just as bad. I’ve been called Birgeese (as in geese) and Beerjis (as in beer). Plus all the other pronunciations with the odd spellings I mentioned earlier. But according to the Iranians, the correct pronunciation of my name is Bur-jess.

But mine isn’t the only foreign sounding name that can get messed up. Take Imran Khan, for example. Sports commentators in England in the 80s would call him Im-run Can. The name Khalid is often also pronounced Ka-leed or Khah-lid but from what I’ve just learnt, in Arabic the K is silent so the name is actually Hah-lid. The other name is Amir. It might be mispronounced Aymeer or Ameer or even Amer but these are all incorrect. The correct pronunciation is actually Ah-meer.

In fact, a lot of folk with Western names also complain about their names being shredded because people can’t pronounce them. In actuality, this tends to happen more with unusual western names rather than the regular ones. I mean Jane is easy to pronounce. So too are James or Ken or Dan. But it’s the Irish names in particular that face a real problem when it comes to being pronounced.

Take the female name Grainne, for instance. You might think that the pronunciation would be like a ‘grain’ of wheat, something I’ve often heard being said by non-Westerners. But you’d be wrong. It’s actually pronounced Gron-ya.

Another is Saoirse. I don’t know how people pronounce this but whatever way they do it, it’s wrong. This is a very Irish name and, according to the Irish, it is pronounced Sur-shuh. Another is Sean. Now this name is often mispronounced by non-native English speakers who often pronounce it exactly the way it’s spelt, much like Grainne is. They say ‘Seen’ because that’s how Sean looks like it would be pronounced. But the actual pronunciation is Shawn.

Another name, and this is not Irish, is Sian. This is a woman’s name and I've often heard it being pronounced ‘See-arn’. Again it’s actually pronounced Sharn where the ‘r’ is silent.

Joaquin Phoenix, the famous Joker actor, is actually pronounced Wah-keen and the actor Mads Mikkelsen (the one who played Hannibal) is not Mads but Mass Mikkelsen.

I would not say it’s butchering a name although some pronunciations can sound irritating and offensive. It’s almost like people do not have the courtesy to check either the spelling of a name, when they have it, or its correct pronunciation. In some cultures mispronouncing a person’s name can be considered highly offensive and inconsiderate.

I do want to tell you a couple of funny stories about my name. When I first went to secondary school, the art teacher taking the register didn’t know how to pronounce my name. Instead of asking how to, he just called me Beige and strangely enough I would respond, ‘yes sir’ for weeks.

I don’t know why I responded and, more to the point, why I didn’t tell him the correct pronunciation. I would have to put it down to being a nervous child and not really able to speak up. However, when I told my sisters about it, they thought it was funny, and the name has stuck ever since. Many friends actually call me Beige now instead of Birjees.

The other funny story was when I got to university to study for my Chemistry Degree. One lecturer kept calling me Brigit (as in the actress Brigit Bardot). He was such a lovely and kind lecturer so, in all fairness, I didn’t have the heart to correct him. Whenever he saw me in a corridor or in class he’d call me Brigit and the other classmates would lean over puzzled and whisper to me, ‘Did he just call you Brigit?’ But that slip had to be corrected sooner or later because it could have had repercussions on exams and transcripts. I remember cringing when he apologised, because he didn’t need to.