Should You Correct People Who Mispronounce Your Name?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, my name is Luis Hernandez, and I’m calling from Corpus Christi, Texas.

Welcome to the show, Luis. How can we help?

My name is, of course, Luis, but they always call me Luis, like not my name, or when they’re spelling it.

They’re always spelling it like L-U-Y-S-L-O-U-I.

Sometimes they do the Lewis and Clark one, like L-E-W-I-S.

I’m not sure if I’m always supposed to correct them, but it’s my name.

I don’t know if the etiquette to do is actually correct them or not.

So your name is Luis, L-U-I-S.

Yes, Luis.

The Spanish pronunciation and the Spanish spelling.

You see, in that case, you being an English speaker, it’ll be Luis.

There’s an emphasis on the U.

And Spanish is just Luis.

Luis.

Luis.

Very good.

And you mentioned your last name.

Are you pronouncing that with an H or not?

Hernandez.

Hernandez.

You really don’t sound the H.

But you anglicized the pronunciation when you told us a few minutes ago, right?

Yeah, because that’s how a lot of people can naturally like, oh, okay, that’s how that name is said.

Luis, I got to tell you, the thing that you have owned the longest, besides your own body, is your name.

And I think, boy, I’m going to get some email for this.

I think if you were in the right situation, maybe not a boss or a police officer or a judge or anybody like that, but other situations, I would correct them.

I really would.

Find a firm line, a brief way to say it that you can practice in advance and say, it’s Luis, please.

Or I prefer Luis.

Yeah, or call me Luis.

Yeah, call me Luis.

And yeah, call me Luis.

That’s kinder.

That’s a gentler way to do it.

And just get that down so it’s reflexive.

I have known people in your circumstance and actually knew a guy when he started his job.

He was introduced to the staff as Luis.

And then he had to spend like months correcting everyone to tell them it was Luis.

And so he had exactly the same first name as you, and it was difficult, and he was just so aggravated that the boss said his name wrong on that very first day in front of the staff.

Do you know why they always do Louis?

I mean, for me, when I hear Louis, I’m like, there’s no O in my name.

Do you know where they kind of get the O from sometimes?

Now, are they reading your name on paper?

Let’s say you’re calling the bank for help or something like that, and so they’re not hearing you say it at first?

Okay, when they’re reading it, they say Louis.

And I’m like, where do you see the O when you’re reading my name?

I’ve done research on my name many times out of curiosity.

And apparently my name comes from like a Germanic Anglo name.

How you want to pronounce it, that is how it’s pronounced.

The history of your name isn’t what matters.

It’s what you, as the person that name belongs to, you control its pronunciation.

And you, I don’t want to say being a jerk about it, but you can be firm about it.

I think Martha’s idea of saying, please call me Luis, I think when somebody mispronounces it, I think that’s a really nice way to correct them.

Yeah, or just shrug and say, it’s Luis.

I mean, personally, I would want to call the person what that person wants to be called.

I have to question people’s motivations if they keep calling you Luis.

If they can’t make the minimal effort after you correct them, then it’s on them and they’re just difficult to deal with.

Some people don’t try very hard, do they?

Yeah, don’t you think it’s a matter of respect?

Yeah.

Generally, I think Martha and I are agreeing with you that people should try hard to pronounce your name.

It’s not that hard.

I will say one tiny thing that kind of defends the people who mispronounce it at first, not the ones who continue to mispronounce even after you correct them.

When I watch British television and they’re pronouncing Spanish names, place names, people names,

They don’t have the same culture of Spanish being taught in the schools consistently as we do here in the United States.

They don’t have whole huge states like Texas and California and Florida and New York that have giant Spanish-speaking populations.

So you encounter Spanish on the radio and newspapers and street signs and so forth.

So they mispronounce Spanish names all the time, and it aggravates me.

But I kind of get that.

If you weren’t exposed in any real meaningful way to the proper way to pronounce those vowels,

I could see how you might say, yeah, it looks like Lewis.

I guess I’m going to say Lewis because it’s close to Lewis.

But again, once you correct them or once you gently say, I prefer Luis,

Then they’ve got to do their best to go along and get that right.

Yeah, or ask if you don’t know how to pronounce a name that you’re looking at.

So we’re with you.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Take care.

And have a great day.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Names are difficult.

We know you’ve got a name thing happening in your life.

They got it wrong.

They got it right.

You can’t think of one.

Call us.

We’ll help out.

877-929-9673.

Email us, words@waywordradio.org, and talk to us on Twitter @wayword.