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Even if you’re not quite at John Travolta levels when pronouncing celebrity names (yup, we’re still stuck on Adele Dazeem-gate), odds are you’ve still butchered a few—even if you don’t know it.
MORE: 50 Actors Who Turned Down Very Famous Roles
In the interest of never embarrassing yourself again, here’s a guide to 25 celebrity names you’re pronouncing wrong—and how to say ’em the right way.
Rihanna
You’re saying: Ree-AHHHH-nah
How it’s pronounced: Ree-AN-uh”
Rhymes with Banana, folks.
Martin Scorsese
You’re saying: Scor-SAY-see
How it’s pronounced: “Scor-SEZ-ee”
“Tell Paramount Martin sez it’s DiCaprio or nobody!”
Zosia Mamet
You’re saying: ZOH-see-ah; ZOH-sigh-ugh-; ZOO-sha
How it’s prounced: ZA-sha (like Sasha)
“Like it rhymes with Sasha, only slightly more ‘o’ sounding. It’s easy once you know,” the “Girls” star explained to Metro. Now you know.
Rachel Weisz
You’re saying: WHY-sss; Whites
How it’s pronounced: VI-ce
The actress has said that Americans can’t properly say her surname, but everyone in London gets it right. Unless the “everyone” she’s referring to is a skilled group of linguists specializing in Eastern European dialects, we highly doubt that.
Kaley Cuoco
You’re saying: CAL-ey Ko-Ko
How it’s pronounced: KAY-lee Kwo-ko
As in: “Have the people on ‘The Big Bang Theory’ joked about anything besides ‘Star Trek’ lately?
“Nope, the jokes are still status kwo.”
Charlize Theron
What you may have been saying: “THER-on”
How it’s pronounced: “Ther-RONE”
“Wait, she dated Sean Penn after he was such a douche to his ex Robin Wright? Oh well, to each THER-RONE.”
Ryan Phillippe
You’re saying: “Phillipe” with a fancy French accent
How it’s pronounced: FIL-Lip-eee
Très pedestrian, non?
Eva Mendes
You’re saying: EE-Va Mendez
How it’s pronounced: AVA Mendez
Whatever, she had Ryan Gosling’s baby. Moving on …
Lindsay Lohan
You’re saying: Lo-HAN
How it’s pronounced: LOW-EN
Girl has bigger problems than how the public says her name, but knowledge is power.
Amanda Seyfried
You’re saying: Say-freed, Say-fried
How it’s pronounced: “SIGH-frid”
“I really wanted to like her as Cosette in “Les Mis,” but I just didn’t. SIGH.
Steve Buscemi
You’re saying: Boo-SHEM-ee
How it’s pronounced: BOO-semi
The silent C is actually a nod to his crazy eyes.
Joe Manganiello
You’re saying: Man-jan-nello
How it’s pronounced: Man-GUH-nello
Hard G. Like his abs.
Lupita Nyong’o
You’re saying: EN-knee-on-go
How it’s really pronounced: En-YON-go
Though if you pronounced it as the Lupita the Most Beautiful Woman in the World-o, you wouldn’t be wrong.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
You’re saying: Jaime Lannister from “Game of Thrones.”
How it’s really pronounced: Nee-ko-Lie KO-ster Wall-DOW
Ralph Fiennes
You’re saying: RALPH because, well, you can read.
How it’s pronounced: RAY-ff Fine-z
Pretty sure he could have changed the spelling when he got his Actors Equity card. Raf is a cool way to spell it too, dude.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
You’re saying: The awesome dude from “12 Years a Slave.”
How it’s pronounced: CHEW-i-tel Ej-i-oh-for
Fun fact: He’s the same guy who married Keira Knightley in “Love, Actually.”
Will Ferrell
You’re saying: Will FArrel, Will PharRELL
How it’s pronounced: FER-al
As in mangy feline.
Mariska Hargitay
You say: Maris-ka Harg-i-tay
How it’s pronounced: “Mah-ri-SH-ka Harg-i-tay
Sh, Detective Benson is about to catch the perp.
Saoirse Ronan
You’re saying: Say-oar-se
How it’s pronounced Seer-sha Row-nin
It’s Irish folks.
Hayden Panettiere
You’re saying: PAN-eh-tier
How it’s pronounced: PAN-eh-TEE-air
Long name, short girl.
Ioan Gruffudd
You say: Eye-oh-an GRUF-FUD
How it’s pronounced: YO-an GRIFF-ith
Why didn’t he just spell it the way it sounds? “I’m determined not to lose my name. It’s who I am. It has neither aided my progress nor hampered it. My culture and heritage is a very rich one. So what if it’s difficult for people to pronounce? We all learned how to say Schwarzenegger,” the Welsh actor has said. If you’re reading this Ioan, can you pleasssssse bring back “Ringer”? Thanks, bye.
Zooey Deschanel
You’re Saying: Deh-Chanel
Correct: Day-shuh-NELL
We kinda wish we had the word “Chanel” in our last name.
Queen Latifah
You’re saying: LUH-tifa
How its pronounced: LA-tifah
As in “My name’s Queen Latifah and I was nominated for an Oscar in 2003, la la la.”
Photos: Getty Images