# Guy Fieri - How do you pronounce his name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652 "2010-04-01T21:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/1 "2010-04-01T21:42:15Z")
It looks like Fi-eri but I can swear he pronounces it Fietti. So which is it? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/2 "2010-04-01T21:50:09Z")
I think the “t” sound is him sort of rolling the “r”. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/3 "2010-04-01T21:55:11Z")
Kenobi’s got it. There is a “tapped” or “rolled” R in Italian, which to some people can sound like an English D or T sound. Fieri apparently has tried to replace the Italian R with an English D or T when he says his name. It can go the other way around too. I’ve heard Italian Americans pronouncing “Madonna” in a manner that kind of sounds like “Maron.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/4 "2010-04-01T21:58:07Z")
If you want to best approximate it, visualize yourself saying Fee-eddy. The tap or flap is identical, or at least pretty darn close, to the sound Americans use for the middle consonant in ladder, latter, water, rudder, fatter, etc. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/5 "2010-04-01T22:47:49Z")
In private conversation, you could just go with “Ferry,” the last name he was born with. I can totally understand why he changed it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/6 "2010-04-01T22:48:25Z")
Does anyone know why he changed his last name? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/7 "2010-04-01T23:47:32Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Does anyone know why he changed his last name? Because the name Fieri is _on point_! I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Seriously, it’s a more ‘interesting’ name. Folks change their names all the time when they want to establish a public image, and Fieri was doing that even before he got on Food Network. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-fieri-how-do-you-pronounce-his-name/534652/8 "2010-04-02T13:27:11Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Because the name Fieri is _on point_! > > I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Seriously, it’s a more ‘interesting’ name. Folks change their names all the time when they want to establish a public image, and Fieri was doing that even before he got on Food Network. I believe the official story is that he changed it to honor his Italian grandfather. Though, I would guess the fact that he didn’t want to be referred to as “that Ferry guy,” probably had a lot to do with it as well.