By Fiona Frawley.
Two Irish names feature in the top 20.
The top 20 most mispronounced names in the world have been revealed, and there are two Irish names on the list.
Anyone with an Irish name, particularly one with a rogue “mh” or “bh” thrown in will know the struggle of travelling anywhere outside Ireland and seeing people’s eyes fill with dread and confusion when they see your name written down, or hearing “Kowa-mih-hay” called out confidently by a Starbucks barista after you give your name at the till.
Thanks to Succession and Kim Kardashian‘s pending American Horror Story cameo, the name Siobhán now enjoys correct pronunciation across the globe but what about the Muireanns, the Oisíns, the Sadbhs? Are they destined for a life of blank stares and “Do you have any nicknames we can use instead?”
If this is the name on top of the mispronounced list, we fear they may be.
Seán is the ‘most mispronounced name in the world.’
Seán has been revealed as the most mispronounced name in the world, according to research conducted by WordFinderX.
The website analysed data from the pronunciation dictionary Forvo, which revealed the name Seán has been searched and pronunciation-checked one million times onsite.
The six most difficult-to-pronounce names are all from different cultures.
Read next: Irish names among the top 10 hardest words for British people to pronounce.
The second top name, Xuxa (shoo·shuh), is of Basque origin and is checked 15 per cent more than third-placed Victoria.
The Greek name Plato appears in the fifth position. The Greek philosopher of the same name was actually called Aristocles; his wrestling teacher nicknamed him Plato, meaning “broad.”
The 20 most mispronounced names from around the world are:
- Seán
- Xuxa
- Victoria
- Francisco
- Plato
- Anna
- Estrella
- Alexander
- Benjamin
- Michael
- Maria
- Xavier
- Thomas
- Anne
- David
- Mary
- Guillaume
- Laura
- Juan
- Saoirse
On the Irish-specific list, Seán, Saoirse and Siobhán take the top three spots (WordFinder left the fadas out but that’s okay, we popped them back atop their relevant letters).
Surprising additions include Ryan, Alan and Brian (all of which we would have thought are fairly self-explanatory) and Éire (a name which could possibly work for a long-lost Baldwin sibling, but I’d say with nearly full certainty there’s no child named Éire in actual Éire).
Surprisingly, Caoimhe, Aoife and Tadgh didn’t feature in the list.
(Originally published on Lovin.ie)
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