# Famous names you would never have connected to their written forms **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085 "2007-01-30T04:50:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/41 "2007-02-01T01:41:59Z")
How else might you pronounce it? “Peert” seems the only likely pronunciation. “Pairt”? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/42 "2007-02-01T01:45:30Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] This reminds me of the _SNL_ skit with Nicolas Cage who played a guy named [something] Asswipe. Throughout the skit he was correcting people on the proper pronunciation: “It’s oss-WEE-pay!” [/QUOTE] [nitpick] Actually, [he spent most of the skit](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:TuDElcoX7tcJ:snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92ababynames.phtml+asswipe+johnson&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a%5B/url) arguing with his (I believe pregnant) wife in their living room about how kids are so cruel and will make fun of almost any name. Kept denouncing names and giving examples of how they’d be mocked (“Sloppy Joe,” etc.). Then the telegram guy shows up with a telegram for “Asswipe and Emily Johnson.” That’s when Nick goes ballistic with the “It’s Oz-WEE-pay!” Great punchline, funny sketch. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/43 "2007-02-01T01:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] Snick Paprikash [/QUOTE] I feel compelled to point out the excellence of this name and its usefulness as either a username or band name. Had I not already had my username, I’d grab that one. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/44 "2007-02-01T01:49:36Z")
[QUOTE=tashabot] Until my mother (a Nickelback fangirl), the other day, corrected me - it’s KRU-ger, like the horror movies. Honest mistake, I guess - but damn, did that confuse me. Anyone care to enlighten me as to why certain rules get tossed out the window for last names? ~Tasha [/QUOTE] Uh oh - you better not tell all the DJ’s around these parts (Kroger’s home town) they all pronounce it KRO-ger. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/45 "2007-02-01T02:08:09Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] How else might you pronounce it? “Peert” seems the only likely pronunciation. “Pairt”? [/QUOTE] I always said Pert until someone corrected me 100 times. There was a couple on the radio here called The Motts and I always thought it was just that one of them was called Lamots and that I hadn’t caught the other’s name. Then I saw it on the side of a bus and all the pieces fell into place. I looked at the name Zbigniew and heard it about a million times without ever putting it together that it’s the same name. ---
**Author:** ![OBJECTION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/fbc32d/32.png) [@OBJECTION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OBJECTION)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/46 "2007-02-01T02:19:07Z")
I’d seen the Home Alone movies as a wee child, but never encountered the actor’s name in written form until fairly recently. It took a bit to register ma-kull-y-kulk-an (I don’t think I was ever informed where exactly in that phrase his name broke into given and sur-.) as “Macaulay Culkin”. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/47 "2007-02-01T02:20:40Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] For the longest time, I thought the NPR correspondent’s name was Snick Paprikash … I was rather surprised when I found out it is Snigdah Prakash. [/QUOTE] Speaking of NPR, none of these familiar names look quite right to me. Sylvia Poggioli Guy Raz John Ydstie Neda Ulaby Tom Gjelten Steve Inskeep “Ydstie” is particularly remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Deaf\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Deaf\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deaf_Geek)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/48 "2007-02-01T08:18:33Z")
> [@](#): > > We could have a field day with Polish names Reminds me of a joke…What does a Polish bride get on her wedding night that’s long and hard? :eek: A Her name! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/49 "2007-02-01T12:49:53Z")
It took me a while to connect “Alloo-wishus” with Aloysius, which I assumed was pronounced “uh-_loy_-shus.” ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/50 "2007-02-01T13:01:29Z")
[QUOTE=Ichbin Dubist] Speaking of NPR, none of these familiar names look quite right to me. Sylvia Poggioli Guy Raz John Ydstie Neda Ulaby Tom Gjelten Steve Inskeep “Ydstie” is particularly remarkable. [/QUOTE] How about Morell I. O’Sun? ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/51 "2007-02-01T13:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Ioan Gruffudd is apparently pronounced something like Owen Griffith. [/quote] I heard him pronounce it somewhere, and it sounded to me like “Yow-an Griffidth.” Oy. > [@gigi](#): > > All I know is he’s cute. Yes, isn’t he yummy? Mr. Stuff and I like the Horatio Hornblower series, and he openly laughs at me about my little crush on Horatio. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/52 "2007-02-01T16:19:35Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] How about Morell I. O’Sun? [/QUOTE] Or Kor Vakulmin? ---
**Author:** ![nongoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@nongoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nongoog)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085/53 "2007-02-01T23:44:45Z")
The name “Lila” always threw me… I always said “Lill-ah” instead of “Lie-lah”. The first time I heard “Actually, it’s _Lie-lah_” I thought it was the most pretentious thing ever… It also took me 18 years of life to realize that “Siobhan” and “Chevonne” were the same… And, least year, at work, I pronounced “Chaim” like it’s spelled: “Chay-mm”. Only after I got a good laugh, by people assuming I was being funny, did I realize it’s that weird gutteral name I never saw written down. Oooooh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-you-would-never-have-connected-to-their-written-forms/390085.md?page=2)