# "Cooba" Gooding, Jr. ? Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127 "2012-01-30T00:31:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/21 "2012-01-30T14:09:00Z")
I always thought it was Cooba. In the mid-90s, the E! channel used to do these promos where they’d have celebrities (some more famous than others) saying, “Hi, I’m XYZ, and I watch E! Entertainment.” One of them had him saying, “Hi, I’m Cooba Gooding, Jr…” So a couple of years later, when Jerry Maguire happened, and he became more famous, I was surprised to hear everyone (but not the man himself) referring to him as “Cube-a.” I assumed that they were all mispronouncing his name, based on the way Americans say the country name, and he just didn’t correct people. At one point, I do remember seeing an interview with Beyonce, talking about a movie she had done with him, and she pronounced his name “Cooba.” ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/22 "2012-01-30T14:50:06Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > I always thought it was Cooba. In the mid-90s, the E! channel used to do these promos where they’d have celebrities (some more famous than others) saying, “Hi, I’m XYZ, and I watch E! Entertainment.” One of them had him saying, “Hi, I’m Cooba Gooding, Jr…” > > So a couple of years later, when Jerry Maguire happened, and he became more famous, I was surprised to hear everyone (but not the man himself) referring to him as “Cube-a.” I assumed that they were all mispronouncing his name, based on the way Americans say the country name, and he just didn’t correct people. At one point, I do remember seeing an interview with Beyonce, talking about a movie she had done with him, and she pronounced his name “Cooba.” “Cube-a”? Why’d you have to throw the Canadian pronunciation in there? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/23 "2012-01-30T15:13:44Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Don’t get me \*started \*on “Rafe Fines.” Oh come on. He got way more handsome the minute I found out he was Rafe Fines. Before, I was like, “eww yuck, _Ralph_ Fie Knees. What a dork.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/24 "2012-01-30T16:57:38Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Also, the confusion is so common that there shouold be no issue with Huckabee’s pronunciation. Huckabee is the guy who had the band Yes on his show and introduced bassist Chris Squire as “Chris McGuire.” ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/25 "2012-01-30T17:08:28Z")
[Here is a 1999 profile](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/05/30/PK79810.DTL) by San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle in which Cuba Gooding Jr. says explicitly it is cue-ba. > [@](#): > > `I tell you how it happens,'' Cuba Gooding Jr. says. `I do an interview. They ask me is it `Kooba' or `Cue-ba.’ I tell them `Cue-ba' -- and they write that I said `Kooba.’ The one who died, Gene Siskel, God bless him, he asked me, `Now how do you pronounce your name?' I told him, `Cue-ba,’ and then he prints in this book, `Cuba Gooding's name is pronounced Kooba.' I said, `Omigosh. I told him, and he still got it wrong.’ ‘’ After 20 years of it I’m sure he has learned to live it with it so long as the checks are cashing. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/26 "2012-01-30T17:38:58Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Don’t get me \*started \*on “Rafe Fines.” No kidding, if you want it pronounced that way, spell it that way dammit. As far as I’m concerned, it’s Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/27 "2012-01-31T00:14:36Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Huckabee is the guy who had the band Yes on his show and introduced bassist Chris Squire as “Chris McGuire.” What!!! Chris McGuire!!! My idol!!! OK, that’s it, Huck is going down, BIG TIME. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/28 "2012-01-31T00:19:09Z")
I got Keanu’s name wrong, until my kids corrected me. Now, let’s determine how Demi Moore pronounces HER name! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/29 "2012-01-31T03:19:13Z")
You give me Demi Moore. I see it and raise Kim Basinger. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Billy\_Baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Baroo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/30 "2012-01-31T17:10:55Z")
Now’s as good a time as any to note that Björk rhymes with “work.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/31 "2012-01-31T17:22:13Z")
This discussion reminds me of the [SNL sketch where NBC News employees are pronouncing Spanish-derived words (like “tornado”, “bronco”, “San Francisco”, etc.) with an exaggerated Spanish accent](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90enews.phtml). ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/32 "2012-01-31T17:25:35Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I don’t get it. Were you suggesting that FoxNews was mispronouncing Mr Gooding’s name, and that he simply rolled with that punch? That’s not so hard to believe. i have a vowel combination in my last name that can be pronounced more than one way, and I don’t bother correcting people when they say it differently than I do. It’s just not a big deal. For the record, though, I always thought it was “cooba” but the quote linked by **obfusciatrist** seems to prove me wrong. Live and learn. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/33 "2012-01-31T17:46:24Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > [QUOTE=JThunder] > I don’t get it. Were you suggesting that FoxNews was mispronouncing Mr Gooding’s name, and that he simply rolled with that punch? That’s not so hard to believe. i have a vowel combination in my last name that can be pronounced more than one way, and I don’t bother correcting people when they say it differently than I do. It’s just not a big deal. [/QUOTE] I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. Rather, I meant that it’s kinda silly to suspect that this is the case _because_ it happened on FoxNews. (Remember, the OP said, “However, it was FoxNews,…”, implying that this made the whole scenario more plausible.) Citing the Usama/Osama confusion is a rather poor way to support this suspicion. It’s not as though FoxNews used the Usama spelling due to mere incompetence. Rather, it’s a perfectly legitimate transliteration of his name, one which even the FBI employs. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/34 "2012-01-31T19:14:37Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > His grandfather was born in Barbados and fled to Cuba then emigrated to NYC. His father Cuba Gooding Sr, was named after the country ( **and also made some great music with The Main Ingredient** ). Which is pronounced ‘Cooba’ by people who speak Spanish. > > As far as I can tell, Jr is fine with both pronunciations. Everybody plays the **fyool** sometimes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/35 "2012-01-31T19:29:45Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. Rather, I meant that it’s kinda silly to suspect that this is the case _because_ it happened on FoxNews. (Remember, the OP said, “However, it was FoxNews,…”, implying that this made the whole scenario more plausible.) > > Citing the Usama/Osama confusion is a rather poor way to support this suspicion. \*\* It’s not as though FoxNews used the Usama spelling due to mere incompetence.\*\* Rather, it’s a perfectly legitimate transliteration of his name, one which even the FBI employs. (bolding mine) And I never made the assertion that it was done out of incompetence. Rather, FoxNews does it (Usama as opposed to the _much_ more common and ubitquitous Osama) in order to stand apart from the “liberal media”. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/36 "2012-02-01T00:59:38Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Can we meet halfway and describe it as Cuba-like-the-country-when-described-by-Speakers-of-English? 😃 Not all. I’m still trying to figure out what’s that place “Cue-ber” in all the old news clips from the Kennedy years 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/37 "2012-02-01T03:41:29Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > (bolding mine) > > And I never made the assertion that it was done out of incompetence. Rather, FoxNews does it (Usama as opposed to the _much_ more common and ubitquitous Osama) in order to stand apart from the “liberal media”. That’s a huge stretch, and I think we both know it. It’s pure supposition. Does the FBI likewise do it in order to distinguish itself from the liberal media? Whether one ascribes this to incompetence or a desire to distinguish one’s self, it’s all unfounded speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/38 "2012-02-01T05:25:37Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > That’s a huge stretch, and I think we both know it. It’s pure supposition. Does the FBI likewise do it in order to distinguish itself from the liberal media? Whether one ascribes this to incompetence or a desire to distinguish one’s self, it’s all unfounded speculation. Oh yes, I didn’t mean to give any impression that it was anything _but_ speculation. I just wanted to make the distinction between speculations, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/39 "2012-02-01T16:22:59Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > And later on that day I saw a 15 sec Fox promo ad for the Huckabee interview with Mr. Gooding, and even the voice-over annoucer guy was calling him “Cooba”. 😕 Have I just been mistaken all these years in thinking this actor’s name was pronounced like the country? Or is FoxNews just weird like that? Maybe they were all thinking about going [cuba diving](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eL3o1w5uRA)later on. ---
**Author:** ![Howkre8iv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Howkre8iv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Howkre8iv)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127/40 "2012-10-09T00:52:38Z")
This past Satruday night (10/06/12), I saw the Main Ingredient with Cuba Gooding Sr. perform at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, Ca. Afterwards I had a chance to chat with him and asked him how he pronounces his name. His response was that he gives it the same American pronunciation as his son Cuba Gooding Jr. He said it is pronounced “Q-ba”, not “Cooba.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooba-gooding-jr-really/611127.md?page=3)