[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
I’m embarassed at how long it took me to figure out the pronunciation of Nguyen.
[/QUOTE]
I had a work acquaintance named “Ng” and refused to even attempt to address him directly, lest I make an ass of myself. Over time, I heard his name most frequently pronounced kind of like “aung” - not quite an O sound, not quite an A, but somewhere in that.
[QUOTE=pinkfreud]
One of my favorite ghost stories, “The Beckoning Fair One,” was written by Oliver Onions. It came as a surprise to me to learn that he pronounced his last name “oh-NY-uns.” I had always thought of him as a pungent vegetable. In fact, when I see the name, I still have a hard time thinking “oh-NY-uns.”
[/QUOTE]
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=tomndebb]
Willard Espy tells the anecdote of the gentleman who entered a bookstore in NYC seeking a book by “HILLary BELLock.” The sales clerk corrected him, saying that the author’s name was “eeLAIR Bel OAK” but that the book was out of stock and would have to be ordered. The customer agreed, and when the clerk asked who was to be notified that the book had arrived, the customer spelled out H-i-l-a-i-r-e B-e-l-l-o-c.
[/QUOTE]
Just a couple of years ago, I went to see a reading by novelist Jim Crace and he told a story about going into an English bookstore (I forget the name, but apparently it’s noted for hiring only college graduates) and asking for a copy of his own book–Do you have [something] by Jim Crace (rhymes with Grace)?-- and being confronted with the reply. “It’s pronounced kra-chay.” Unlike Belloc, Crace said he was too intimidated to say anything about it.
NFL Hall of Fame QB Joe Theismann actually pronounces his own last name “THEEZ-man” but when in college some teammates hung a banner that read “Theisman for Heisman” so ever since he’s gone with the “THIGHS-man” pronounciation.
Of course, that pronunciation is rather close to the written form, so it’s not quite in the spirit of the OP…
Hmm…OK, how about former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski? (Shuh-SHEFF-ski)
(We could have a field day with Polish names)
In her autobio And A Voice To Sing With, Joan Baez says her father’s family always pronounced their last name as “Bize,” not “Bi-ez.”
[QUOTE=Dooku]
Hmm…OK, how about former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski? (Shuh-SHEFF-ski)
(We could have a field day with Polish names)
[/QUOTE]
He was fired? He went pro? He died? Had a sex change and now coaches the UNC women’s team? I must know the details, man
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
He was fired? He went pro? He died? Had a sex change and now coaches the UNC women’s team? I must know the details, man
[/QUOTE]
Bah. I was confusing him with Dean Smith. Must be the funny names.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
This confuses me.
Are you saying that “ngu yen” is not a good pronunciation of Nguyen? 'Ng" as in sing, ‘u’ as in blue, then ‘yen’ as in the name of the Japanese currency? Because I have never had any problem starting off words with the ‘ng’ sound.
[/QUOTE]
There’s definitely no hard Y sound in it.
It’s one of those things that just gets more confusing the more you try to explain it - sometimes I think the guys who Romanised the language were on some serious drugs though, and the final vowel is more like an ‘i’ sound, tending towards a schwa. Even the ‘ng’ sound is quite soft. You can really start with with your mouth positioned to say ‘ng’ and then just say ‘win’ instead.
If in doubt, just say “win”. It’s utterly acceptable to the ears of Westernised Vietnamese folks.
Wikipedia really does have a page on everything: Nguyen
(There’s a sound file on that page too)
The hockey player Benoit Hogue. I hate to admit it, but I spent quite a bit of time scanning the bench for Ben Wa Ho. :smack:
[QUOTE=Dooku]
Hmm…OK, how about former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski? (Shuh-SHEFF-ski)
(We could have a field day with Polish names)
[/QUOTE]
I have it on the authority of local sportscaster Tom Suiter that the proper pronunciation of his name is “Coach K” 
Actually, Polish is not that difficult – just that it uses a lot of alternate sounds for consonants, and phonemes English does not have or rarely uses, leading you to think that a Polish W is the /w/ sound and not, like German, /v/ or /f/.
[QUOTE=Polycarp]
Actually, Polish is not that difficult – just that it uses a lot of alternate sounds for consonants, and phonemes English does not have or rarely uses, leading you to think that a Polish W is the /w/ sound and not, like German, /v/ or /f/.
[/QUOTE]
Difficult enough for a post in this thread, though. 
Thought of another one. That former Canadiens and Avalanche goalie. Patrick Roy.
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster]
Who knew ‘Sinjin Alexander’ was actually spelt ‘St. John’? More to the point, what vicious meanie would name a kid after a saint complete with the saint part?
[/QUOTE]
Quite common in Polynesian society - in fact, I met a boy called Saint John The Baptist xxxxx in Manukau, Auckland (Auckland is the biggest Polynesian city). And it was Saint John the Baptist, all the time - none of this Sinjin stuff.
Si
[QUOTE=MadPansy64]
The hockey player Benoit Hogue. I hate to admit it, but I spent quite a bit of time scanning the bench for Ben Wa Ho. :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Ha! I’m a Canadian, so for half of a second, I was thinking “what’s the problem with that name?”
On that note, when Ottawa first acquired Brian Pothier, my brother and I would never pronounce his name correctly. We kept saying “Po-Tee-Ay”. Apparently, he pronounces it “Poth-Ee-Er”. Go figure.
I also remember when Ottawa had a player called Stan Neckar. As near as I could tell, the proper pronunciation is “Net-skash”.
Remember back in the '70s and '80s when the radio show, American Top 40, was hosted by that Casey guy?
When I finally saw his name in print, it took a little bit to make the connection. Casey Kasem. I remember him always pronouncing it KAY-some. As a kid, I never even connected it with a middle eastern name.
Not quite up to standard, but:
The lead singer of Nickelback’s name is Chad Kroeger. Now, being the annoying American that I am, I always assumed that because the O came first, his name was pronounced KRO-ger, like the grocery store.
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=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?
[/QUOTE]
Well, for starters, keep in mind that last names come from a variety of different cultures, with a variety of pronunciations for the same letter combinations(prime example: in English, -er is pronounced “err”, while in French, it’s pronounced “ay”). Even if a name comes from a language that doesn’t use the Latin Alphabet it won’t be spelt phonetically: that would imply the spelling of one’s name being different in say, France and Germany.
Then, just to confuse things further, some people go with the English pronunciation of their names rather than the original pronunciation. Like my example of Brian Pothier, who has a French name.
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
I use to think there were two rap stars, the one I heard about named “Fiance,” and the one I read about named “Be-younce.” :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Hmmm…when did Beyonce become a Rap star? :eek:
For the longest time, I thought the NPR correspondent’s name was Snick Paprikash (which, now that I think about it, sounds almost as proposterous as Lemony Snicket). I figured “Snick” must be a nickname. I was rather surprised when I found out it is Snigdah Prakash.
I was a Rush fan for years before I found out that drummer Neil Peart’s last name should be pronounced “Peert.”