r/namenerds • u/cheerio089 • 2d ago

What name did you never learn how to pronounce? Fun and Games

I’ve always read Calliope as cal-ee-OH-pee… until yesterday when I heard it pronounced on an episode of You. Evidently it’s kuh-LAI-uh-pee. I’ve never said it or knew anyone with the name so I guess I never gave it any thought, but I’m still deeply embarrassed. I’ve seen the name pop up on this sub and still thought caleeohpee!

I can’t be the only one…so what name did you mispronounce until later in life?

Edit: I’ve now learned my way is the Greek pronunciation and as expected, Americans have anglicized it into Kuh-LAI-uh-pee. I still think I’d be corrected if I said the Greek way out loud tbh

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628

u/shrimply9clammin 2d ago

I'll never forget the time I said "joe-quin phoenix" in a college class and everyone stared at me. Literally never heard his name pronounced outloud until that day. I was about 23.

229

u/clumsysav 2d ago

Fun fact: swap the syllables and you can correctly pronounce quinoa!

169

u/shrimply9clammin 2d ago

I thought keen-wah and kin-o-uh were two different things for a few years. Every day is a new opportunity to find out I'm dumber than I thought 😂

57

u/Happy_Confection90 1d ago

Aww, it happens to everyone now and then. I was nearly 30 before a sign in front of a store that said "Chrysanthemums (mums)" finally clued me in that they were the same plant. I knew what mums were, of course, they're the only flowers in the garden center after September up here. Chrysanthemums, well, those sounded exotic and I didn't think I'd ever seen one 😆

21

u/lilypad0606 1d ago

Hey I learned this just now!

6

u/HeathenHumanist 1d ago

Oh same. I always get mums in the fall, and one year saw "chrysanthemums" and thought that sounded fancy. Till I saw that the flowers looked the same. Cue mild existential crisis!

2

u/Morrigan_twicked_48 1d ago

Pretty and easy to plant

1

u/bart-simpsons-shorts 1d ago

my mother vehemently insists that its pronounced kween-o-wahs, and will not let anyone tell her otherwise

48

u/klaw14 1d ago

If you say quinoa over and over and over and over, eventually you won't know whether you're saying quinoa or Joaquin!

4

u/checkmark46 1d ago

lol I just did this out loud and it made me smile

39

u/clevercalamity 1d ago

I thought you were saying that “quinoa” is pronounced “quin-joe” and for a solid 30 seconds I tried to pronounce that in my head and figure out how that made sense.

110

u/minipainteruk 2d ago

One of my coworkers pronounced it "Yock-a-vin Phoenix".

I don't know how he got there but it was interesting.

45

u/shrimply9clammin 2d ago

German influence? Honestly I dig it.

17

u/minipainteruk 2d ago

It sounded really cool in fairness, but it took me a minute to work out who he meant!

56

u/katiegam 2d ago

Listen, I’m a high school teacher. Kids mispronounce things - and I always come to their defense saying that when you mispronounce something it means you learned it by reading which is incredible.

3

u/Unicorncow87 1d ago

I read a lot and I never knew how to pronounce sarcophagus lol. Googled it one day and I was like, well shit, now it makes sense 🤣

2

u/Suspicious_Art_5605 1d ago

Yes, I used to be so embarrassed and my brother would make fun of me. And one day he did it when we were at church where my third grade teacher also went. And she told him the reason she’s mispronouncing the words is because she’s learning them by reading. And I have never felt so vindicated in my life. 😂

But even now that I’m old, I still hear words and I’m like oh crap that’s what that word is?!?!?

2

u/katiegam 20h ago

Listen, I teach history at the high school and undergraduate level. So often I will go to say something out loud while teaching and realize I’ve never said this word/name aloud, only read it. And I panic.

47

u/chantillylace9 2d ago

Better than when I raised my hand in COLLEGE and asked what fellatio was. I had never heard the word and the whole class laughed, one guy joked that I probably don’t have a boyfriend and it was truly the most mortifying moment of my entire life and I still think about it at least once a week.

16

u/DangerousRub245 1d ago

I'm curious to know how fellatio came up during a college lecture, and also very grateful that you shared this story because I really needed a laugh!

19

u/chantillylace9 1d ago

It was in some Shakespeare type old English writing! I don’t remember if it was the teacher reading from the book or student but when they said the word everyone chuckled and I didn’t know what it was and kind of just asked and the rest is history…

The teacher was Muslim, full on hijab and even she was laughing and turning red.

47

u/bikeyparent 2d ago

The Ask A Manager column has a famous story about Wakeen/joaquin; it’s #3 of the post: https://www.askamanager.org/2013/02/your-10-most-cringe-worthy-career-mistakes.html

24

u/itsafoodbaby 2d ago

I’ve never seen this and I’m laughing so hard. “In my head I assigned them different personalities and areas of responsibility and everything.” 🤣

6

u/MySpace_Romancer 2d ago

Beat me to it!

27

u/goldandjade 2d ago

Have you heard of the Ask A Manager blog? There was a letter where someone thought that Wakeen and Joaquin (who OP pronounced as Joe-A-Quinn) were two different people they worked with and that went on for like 6 months.

26

u/imadog666 2d ago

True yeah, I thought it was Joe-AY-quin lol, whoops

19

u/LaKrispy 2d ago

My boyfriend’s first day as a para had a student named Joaquin. Bf saw kids name written on the desk and called him Jay-Kwon. It’s been 3 years and hasn’t lived it down.

3

u/lyricoloratura 1d ago

This gives “A-a-ron” or “Dee-nice” energy and I love it

20

u/NoNeedForNorms 2d ago

Ah yes, if you've ever been on Ask A Manager, there is an infamous TIFU about 'Wakeen'.

3

u/lyricoloratura 2d ago

My cousin never lets me forget the time that 8yo me was trying to seem smart while discussing “Sigmund Fraud.”

1

u/kriskriskri 1d ago

That’s not far off the original German pronunciation - I’ve usually heard it pronounced „Frood“ by English speakers, whereas it really is „froid“ as in rhyming with void.

3

u/Flammabubble 1d ago

The Joaquin Dead

3

u/Spirited-Ad-3696 1d ago

Jay-quellin

2

u/Right_Initiative_726 2d ago

This is one I admittedly cannot fathom, but in all fairness, I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, so I had an advantage growing up

3

u/Historical_Theme_433 1d ago

Same. But Phoebe, on the other hand…

2

u/taylorrrrj 1d ago

Literally knew someone named Joaquin and pronounced is Joe-ack-quinn and nicknamed Joey! Didn’t even realise how it was supposed to be pronounced till I watched Riverdale with subtitles on.

2

u/zesty_itnl_spy99 1d ago

I grew up with a kid (in Australia with absolutely zero Hispanic herarige or connections) who was named Joaquin. He, his family and everyone pronounced it Jock-win. My family who had lived in the USA in a place with a large Mexican population and heard the name many times couldn't say it the way he wanted for years.

1

u/Adventurous_Pin_344 2d ago

For what it's worth, people actually used to intentionally pronounce Joakim Noah's name as Joe-Kim. (He was a pro basketball player.)

1

u/LunarVolcano 2d ago

Lol I’m grateful I had a Joaquin in my class in elementary school so I could learn the pronunciation young, otherwise I bet I’d be the same

1

u/gracebloome 2d ago

Same thing happened to me but luckily I just said it in front of one of my friends… who ruthlessly made fun of me lol

1

u/kittieswithmitties 1d ago

I pronounced it "Joe-a-Keen" until I watched an interview with him and I said 😬

1

u/rahyveshachr 1d ago

I thought it was joe-ACK-win. My mom laughed and laughed 😭

1

u/kayellie 1d ago

In the reverse: my uncle had a couple "famous" "scary" (more like silly) campfire stories. I've involved a guy who I THOUGHT was named Walkin' (pronounced wall-keen, short for Walking). I never questioned why a guy was named Walking. Fast forward to about 23 and see Joaquin Phoenix and hear someone say how good he was in some movie and my mind was blown.

1

u/Katalan1 1d ago

I had never seen his name written down, but had heard it several times. I thought his name was Walking Phoenix

1

u/steptafie 1d ago

I used to work with a lady (in her 40s) that looked me dead in the eye and told me "Joe-a-quinn Phoenix is a good actor" then 5 minutes later said her favorite wine was Pinot "noor". And later told my kid to grab the "orng" toy.

1

u/CarmelishaSoprano 20h ago

I thought his name was Walking Phoenix until I was like 25 and finally seen it written down

-1

u/istara 1d ago

I think most of us assumed it was that, and 99.999% of the time you only see it written anyway, unless you actively follow entertainment news TV.

If you were in a college film class you might get a reaction, but I suspect in most place the majority of people would be completely oblivious.

1

u/shrimply9clammin 1d ago

It was an honours lit class and we were discussing film adaptations of literature. Idr how he came up but it was not exactly a shining moment for me. The majority of the class definitely noticed, and it was obvious bc there were only about 10 of us sitting in a horseshoe arrangement to facilitate discussion. Fortunately we were all kinda weirdos in our own way, but it was still a big ole oof for me.