# Famous names you mispronounced for the longest time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973 "2016-03-05T02:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/201 "2016-12-26T00:32:22Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Similarly, Tony Dorsett’s name was originally pronounced with the stress on the first syllable. Apparently some PR person or agent thought it sounded better with the accent on the second, and it stuck. Mostly. I recall OJ, when he was doing color commentary, still pronounced it the old way. Huh? I remember it the exact opposite. In college it was pronounced Doorsit and once he turned pro he decided to change it himself. > [@](#): > > Reveling in his superstar image, Dorsett changed the pronunciation of his name to make him even more distinctive, but people often just referred to him by his initials, since TDs became his stock in trade. He scored 72 of them rushing in his 11 years in Dallas, putting him ninth on the all-time list, while gaining more than 1,000 yards eight times. > **[At Least in Denver, Dorsett Is Back in Running](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-24-sp-2416-story.html)** > > In the beginning, he was simply Tony Dorsett. Then, he became Tony Dor- sett . Or TD. I did a google search and found a couple of articles that suggest he changed it but nothing that states an agent or PR guy did it and it stuck. Dude was a Heisman trophy winner under the first pronounciation. Doesn’t make sense a new new would just stick like that. Do you have a cite I can read? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/202 "2016-12-26T04:14:00Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Huh?. . .? I’m not sure I understand your \*question, since you seem to be agreeing with my point that his name was originally pronounced (college years, for example) with the accent on the first syllable. Later, the pronunciation shifted to the now-more-familiar 'dor-SETT. \*Except that I assumed it was an agent who decided that the changed pronunciation sounded flashier, and not Dorsett himself. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/203 "2016-12-26T04:30:34Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > \*Except that I assumed it was an agent who decided that the changed pronunciation sounded flashier, and not Dorsett himself. That was my question. If you had info that this was the case I wanted to read it. Memories from long ago can become corrupted and I was remembering that he himself had changed it and that was true but by researching I am NOT finding that he stated that it had always been dorSett but in college he had no control over what he was called and now as a pro he was reclaiming his real name. What I found doesn’t discount that he may have put out that story back then but it’s hard to internet check something that old. In short, I wasn’t being confrontational I was being curious. Call it checking my long term memory nad just how corrupted it had become. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/204 "2016-12-26T04:49:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m currently watching the DVDs for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Lena Headey is on some of the commentary tracks. She introduces herself at the start of each episode she commentates, pronouncing her name as follows: > > LEE-na HEE-dee > > Bwah?! I’ve been rhyming her name with “head” for years and years, and I’m not the only one. I said “LEE-nuh HEAD-ee” until I saw her on The Late Late Show, and Craig Ferguson introduced her as “LEH-nuh HEED-ee.” Which I took to be correct. So it’s “LEE-na HEE-dee” when she says it? OK. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/205 "2016-12-26T05:10:01Z")
For what it’s worth, I remember watching Tony Dorsett on TV playing for Pittsburgh just before he turned pro (some big bowl game?) and I remember - and I hope my memory is not “corrupted” - that everyone up to that point was saying his name DOR-sett but at that very point in time he was trying to get people to pronounce it Dor-SETT. Don’t know who was behind that, if anyone, but that’s a pretty clear memory to me. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/206 "2016-12-26T05:52:27Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > For what it’s worth, I remember watching Tony Dorsett on TV playing for Pittsburgh just before he turned pro (some big bowl game?) and I remember - and I hope my memory is not “corrupted” - that everyone up to that point was saying his name DOR-sett but at that very point in time he was trying to get people to pronounce it Dor-SETT. Don’t know who was behind that, if anyone, but that’s a pretty clear memory to me. I found a passage in the book Legends of the Dallas Cowboys: Tom Landry, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and other Cowboy Stars on google which I can’t quote which pretty much clears a bit of it up fpr me. It states that it was after he went to Dallas. He said the name was French thus pronounced dorSETT. This ticked off Tom Landry and the mostly conservative cowboys fans who wanted him to run the football, win games and shut his mouth. That’s not just because of the name. It mentions that when he got there he got in a bar fight and bought a Lincoln Continental with his initials over the door handles. Standard stuff these days of course. > **[Legends of the Dallas Cowboys](https://books.google.com/books?id=TQEnAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT133&ots=uPk5Sz5jd8&dq=tony%20dorsett%20when%20did%20he%20change%20pronunciation&pg=PT133#v=onepage&q=tony%20dorsett%20when%20did%20he%20change%20pronunciation&f=false)** > > Five Super Bowl titles, 13 Hall of Famers, and a litany of legendary players, characters, and games later, the Dallas Cowboys franchise has cemented itself among the most successful in all of sports and, with a fan base that extends all over the... I personally don’t feel bad misrembering it. At this point even Tony likely doesn’t remember it as he now suffers from memory loss ☹ I did not like him as a player because he was a Cowboy but I respect the heck out of him and hate to see him dealing with this in what should be his golden years. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/207 "2016-12-27T02:08:41Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > LEE-na HEE-dee That feeling when an old(ish) thread is bumped and you realize not only is the response you intended to make in the first post, but also this is the very post where you learned this information in the first place…:smack::smack::smack::o ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/208 "2016-12-27T04:52:49Z")
How about Will Forte? Is it “for- **tay** ”? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/209 "2016-12-27T05:49:47Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Three famous people whose last name is spelled Kerr, were Deborah Car, John Cur, and Clark Care. I’ve never heard of Clark Care, but there is also Graham Care, although he is rather forgotten these days. The Galloping Gourmet, although later he sobered up and just went by his name. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/210 "2016-12-27T14:25:59Z")
I’ve mentioned it before: For about a year, I thought there was a singer called “Fiancee” that I kept hearing about, and one called “BE-younce” that I kept reading about. It was only when I noticed the accent over the final e in her name that I put 1 + 1 together and got 1. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/211 "2016-12-27T20:21:16Z")
In the '70s when I was in junior high, I thought Bob Dylan’s name was pronounced “DIE-lan.” I had heard of “Bob Dillon,” of course, but I didn’t realize that they were the same person. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/212 "2016-12-27T20:22:26Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I’ve never heard of Clark Care, but there is also Graham Care, although he is rather forgotten these days. Actually spelled “Graham Kerr.” ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/213 "2016-12-29T23:52:51Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > How about Will Forte? Is it “for- **tay** ”? That’s how the SNL announcer (not sure if it was still Gary Owens in that era) said it. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve mentioned it before: For about a year, I thought there was a singer called “Fiancee” that I kept hearing about, and one called “BE-younce” that I kept reading about. It was only when I noticed the accent over the final e in her name that I put 1 + 1 together and got 1. My dad (for some reason that still baffles me my then 60 something dad had reason to mention her) called her Bee Once. Like the insect that makes honey and the first word of once upon a time. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/214 "2016-12-30T00:57:28Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > That’s how the SNL announcer (not sure if it was still Gary Owens in that era) said it. With the accent on the first syllable. I’ve heard people say the normal word “forte” (not the musical term) with the accent on the second syllable. (I know it “should” be one syllable, but I think that ship has sailed.) ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/215 "2016-12-30T02:49:30Z")
Franchot Tone. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/216 "2016-12-31T01:27:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I’ve always pronounced and heard it as you have it. But [here’s that NPR story with Ray Davies pronouncing his own name](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121833760). And, yeah, it’s something closer to “Davis.” Then there’s Alan Davies. On QI it is always pronounced DAY-veez. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/217 "2016-12-31T01:49:39Z")
And then there are the people who use devices that can’t read IPA, and just get a square or question mark. [/QUOTE] Or just know that IPA means India Pale Ale.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973/218 "2016-12-31T02:00:56Z")
People have brought up Pierre, ND and Berlin. Made me think of a town in New Mexico called Thoreau, pronounced by most New Mexicans I know as “through”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-mispronounced-for-the-longest-time/747973.md?page=10)