There is a common tendency to pronounce first and last names incorrectly. The handing out of degrees during commencement ceremonies is the instance of this type that occurs the most frequently. To get around this issue, today's educational institutions have developed various solutions. Having students videotape themselves pronouncing their own names correctly is one method of teaching this skill. Even well-known figures have been brought to justice for participating in similar conduct.
1. Adele
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Adele is devoted to her devoted following. The performer is always honest with her fans, venting her frustrations in interviews and hosting regular get-togethers. Adele praised a fan at one of these events for correctly pronouncing her name. Despite popular belief, the singer's name is pronounced uh-dale, not ah-dell.
2. Chrissy Teigen
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Chrissy, a joyful mother of three and a successful model, is OK with the frequent mispronunciation of her Norwegian father's odd family name. Her last name, "tie-gen," is so difficult to say that most people will probably trip up on the first letter.
3. Taylor Lautner
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The hero of the Twilight series not only debunks the rumors that have persisted about him because of the franchise but also brings attention to the proper way to say his surname. A lot of people mispronounce the first syllable as "lot." When spoken phonetically, the actor's last name has a first syllable that rhymes with "out" and is pronounced, "lowt-ner."
4. Alicia Silverstone
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The actress's kind mother is more sensitive to the mispronunciation of her name than she is. But my dear mother didn't approve, so please get it correctly for her sake. She named her daughter Alicia, thinking it was lovely, but she had no idea that others would mispronounce it as "Alee-Sha" instead of "ali-SEE-yuh."
5. Saoirse Ronan
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Little Women star Saoirse Ronan wanted to clear the air, so she started her Saturday Night Live monologue by explaining how her Irish name is spelled and spoken. It's pronounced "sur-sha" and it signifies "freedom."
6. Gal Gadot
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In an interview, Wonder Woman of the Year said that six out of ten people get her last name wrong because they mispronounced the initial "T," pronouncing it instead as "gadoh." The word should be pronounced with a strong "T," as in "gah-dote." It also has to have a "gentle" tone.
7. Jake Gyllenhaal
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The actor is unfazed by the widespread mispronunciation of his Swedish surname, joking that it will be pronounced correctly only in his own country or at Ikea. Considering the Swedish language's phonetics, the word is pronounced more like "yeel-en-hall" than "jill-en-hal," as is commonly used.
8. Kesha
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The singer's mom came up with her stage name. She said that it is derived from a Hungarian surname and that, in Hungarian, it is pronounced "ke-tu-cha." They reduced it to "keh-shuh" since it seemed too difficult for a media personality. The vocalist, however, often finds herself correcting incorrect pronunciation from the audience.
9. Brendan Fraser
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The actor rode the tide of his recent success by sending out a reminder on how to say his surname properly. When asked how to pronounce his last name, actor Adam Sandler in December 2022 said, "Frasier." The future Academy Award winner found that offensive, so he coined the rhyme "Fraser rhymes with 'razor'" to prevent a repetition of the error.