November 22, 2025
I’ve made 2 people very happy lately, quite by accident.
How did I do it? I pronounced their names correctly.
In both cases, I was in phone conversations at work with people I’d never met. They were American, but their names were from other cultures.
In both cases, after the call was finished, the person sent an email thanking me for pronouncing their name correctly. I had never realized before what a difference it could make. (After all, Jean Luc Picard went all those seasons of TNG without ever pronouncing a non-Federation name correctly, so it seemed like it was the norm just to Anglicize every name you came across.)
But once the second person mentioned it, I said, “Yeah, it must be murder to never have your name pronounced correctly.”
So, if you’re looking for an easy way to spread goodwill, listen to the name of the person you’re talking to, and try to replicate it. It means a lot.
3 comments:
Growing up I hated that everyone butchered the pronunciation of my last name. Occasionally, someone would even mispronounce my first name.
Consequently, when I was a teacher, as I took attendance during the first few days of any new year, I insisted my students pronounce their names for me, and I wrote them phonetically on my attendance sheet and my seating chart. Often, they would say to me, "It's okay however you say it." I always countered with, "Your name is one of the very few things that you'll ever own. Protect it and insist on the respect of a correct pronunciation." Most were very pleased to offer the correct pronunciation, and, at my request, would correct any mispronunciation.
Only once in my teaching career did I learn that a student allowed me to go all year mispronouncing his name. I didn't discover it until the following year when his younger brother was my student. When I expressed regret and embarrassment, his brother said, "[My brother] didn't like to
make a big deal out of it."
That comment was sent in by SDC, who hit "Anonymous" by mistake and asked me to correct it. I was unable to, so I'm adding this addendum.
SDC, that is a wonderful thought to give the students. Also, I hope that teachers and everyone else will follow your example. It is a beautiful act.
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