If I were you, I’d somehow indicate that you realize that there are multiple ways to pronounce that name. My first instinct it to say, “I see you have one of those last names that is pronounced differently by different people. How do you pronounce it?” but there’s probably a less clunky version.
Well, there’s always the old dodge: “Oh! I went to school with a family of kids named Fuchs (pronounce it fyooks)!” Leaving the client or whomever to respond “Oh, yes, but we pronounce it (X)”.
Names are ridiculously hard when it comes to pronunciation, because there are no real rules. As someone whose maiden name, and now married name, cause great confusion to many people, I can assure you: people with names like this are aware that many people don’t know how to pronounce it! If you mis-pronounce it, and the guy calls you out on it in a derogatory way, it says way more about him than it does about you!
Somewhere I read that the famous Russian aerosol scientist pronounced his name “fooks” (rhyming with “spooks”).
With the u pronounced like the o in do the proper pronunciation is Foks.
Yep. Got a whole slug of cousins with Fuchs as their last name. Aunt Shirley let me know when I was about 12 that rhyming the name with ducks was worth a slap upside the head. Never did it again.
I’ve never heard it with the intrusive “y” sound here in the UK. It’s always “Fooks” to rhyme with “Books”. Not that this explains “Fuchsia”, of course.
With names where the pronunciation (when you have the spelling) or the spelling (when you’ve heard the pronunciation) is questionable, I simply ask “how do you pronounce/spell your name?” People are happy to tell you, glad you had the sense to ask, and especially glad you didn’t proceed to guess wrong when all you had to do was ask.
Hollywood cite: one of the characters in John Carpenter’s classic The Thing is named Fuchs, and it’s pronounced “Fyooks”.
Without reading the other posts yet, and having never heard this name spoken nor known anyone with it, here’s what I’d say:
It looks like the beginning of the word “fuchsia.” But “fyoosh” just doesn’t sound right with that spelling. I’d probably say “fyooks” because I don’t want to say anything that could potentially resemble the f-word in a business environment. If I were told that they pronounce the last name as “fucks” then I would just call them by their first name or honorific title if they insisted on it (like “Doctor/Captain” or “sir/madam” instead of “Doctor/Captain Fucks”). Sorry, Mister Fucks may be your name but I’m not going to say that at work.
Data point from Israel (so heavily skewed towards Jewish bearers of this name) – I’ve always heard it as Fooks (to rhyme with “spooks”)
I had a classmate in high school who insisted on pronouncing it [fjuʃs] – “fyooshsss” – which he and everyone else had to articulate very carefully in order to get right – it came out as [fjuʃ] “fyush” or [fjus] “fyuss” in rapid speech. We all thought that he or someone else in his family just decided to pronounce it that way because they were uncomfortable with the proximity to “fuck.”
I used to know a guy whose last name was Faggot. At meetings/seminars he would walk around with his name tag reading “Bob Faggot”. Invariably, people pronounced it with the “T” silent, or some other way. He would correct them, “Nope, it’s Faggot”.
My family pronounces our last name Fyooks. However, if we are waiting for a table at a restaurant we usually give the name Fox.
My mom, when she was working retail many years ago had this exchange:
(hands credit card back to customer) “Thank you Mrs. Fyooks.”
Customer: “It’s pronounced Fucks.”
My mom was dumbfounded. Any pronunciation but that.
That name looks even more problematic than the last name of a girl I knew in college: Bich (it was pronounced “Bick”).
Wow, I’m now fantasizing that there might be someone out there called Bich Fuchs for realsies and not just as a MMORPG avatar’s name.
Imagine if the Situation met someone with that name. He’d be wondering if Bich Fuchs was DTF.
On a related note, I’ve always heard “fuchsia” pronounced as “fyoosh-sha.”
Which makes sense, since fuchsia (the plant) was named after botanist Leonhart Fuchs.
foox, where the foo is as in Foo Fighters or food. Not sure how fyoo is supposed to be pronounced. Is that like f-you?
No, it’s [fju], like “few.” Perhaps you don’t have the post-consonantal [ju] glide in your accent. Do you rhyme “pews” with “use”?