# Help me pronounce some names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705 "2004-11-19T19:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/1 "2004-11-19T19:38:53Z")
Could someone give me a clue how to pronounce these two last names: “Roque” and “Aguirre”? When I try to do it, my brain tries to treat them as French words and pronounce them that way, but French pronounciation apparently isn’t the way to go here. For the record, these are students in my classes. I tell my students to feel free to correct me if I get their names wrong, but sometimes the students are either too intimidated to tell me the correct pronounciation or just can’t be bothered, and that’s the case with these two students. The students both appear to be Hispanic, so I’m guessing that Spanish pronounciation is the way to go (or possibly Portuguese?) but that’s just a guess. Even if that’s right, I don’t speak a word of Spanish, so I’m at a loss. Any tips? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/2 "2004-11-19T19:46:16Z")
Roque = “ROH-kay”, with a short “o” sound, kind of between the vowel sound in “pot” and that in “pole” (but short). Aguirre - not too sure about this one, but probably roughly “A-GEE-rray”, with a hard G and a rolled “r”. Accent on the second syllable. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/3 "2004-11-19T19:52:21Z")
Actually, a bit of Googling suggests that Aguirre is often spelt with an accent on the e: Aguirré. In that case, it would be pronounced roughly “Aggy-RAY”. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/4 "2004-11-19T20:11:49Z")
Sounds plausible. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/5 "2004-11-19T20:57:14Z")
Note that the “g” is hard, of course. Colophon’s “gee” is not the word often spelled that way. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/6 "2004-11-19T21:33:26Z")
When ever I see threads where people ask for pronounciations in Spanish, it drives me nuts to see …AY. It should be EH, at least in Mexican Spanish. Ay is just so wrong! So, I pulled out my recorder! The first word is how I would say the name in Mexican Spanish, the second with the American pronounciation of AY. [Roque](http://www.monkeyscribbles.com/one.wav) [Aguirre](http://www.monkeyscribbles.com/two.wav) Sorry they aren’t the best - I got my braces tightened today. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/7 "2004-11-19T22:12:57Z")
Several years ago, the Dallas Mavericks had a player who I kept hearing talked about - Mark Agwire, or Aguire, or something. But I went to a few games and noticed a player who was pretty good named Mark Aguirre, which I pronounce a-geer-eh (since I’m from West Texas and Spanish surnames are extremely common). It took me a while to realize that this was the same player I had heard called Agwire. I heard later that his name was supposed to be pronounced a-geer-eh, but sportscasters never said that, so he just gave up and went by a-gwire. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/8 "2004-11-20T00:15:01Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > When ever I see threads where people ask for pronounciations in Spanish, it drives me nuts to see …AY. It should be EH, at least in Mexican Spanish. > > Ay is just so wrong! I know, but it gets the gist across. “eh” is open to misinterpretation, as it could mean “e” as in “bet” or “eh” as in “Eh?” (which to my ear is pronounced identically to “ay”). The Spanish isn’t really like either of these. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/9 "2004-11-20T01:05:26Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Several years ago, the Dallas Mavericks had a player who I kept hearing talked about - Mark Agwire, or Aguire, or something. But I went to a few games and noticed a player who was pretty good named Mark Aguirre, which I pronounce a-geer-eh (since I’m from West Texas and Spanish surnames are extremely common). It took me a while to realize that this was the same player I had heard called Agwire. I heard later that his name was supposed to be pronounced a-geer-eh, but sportscasters never said that, so he just gave up and went by a-gwire. Odd. I had always read his name was pronounced "A-GEER-ay. It what Tigers pitcher Hank Aguirre who pronounced his name “A-GWIRE.” ---
**Author:** ![Thrillhouse15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ad7895/32.png) [@Thrillhouse15](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thrillhouse15)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pronounce-some-names/275705/10 "2004-11-20T02:10:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Odd. I had always read his name was pronounced "A-GEER-ay. It what Tigers pitcher Hank Aguirre who pronounced his name “A-GWIRE.” If that’s the same Mark Aguirre who played for the Bad Boy Pistons in the late 80s, I never heard his name pronounced any way except “a-GWIRE.”