How would you pronounce the name, “Vergillo”? I appreciate the UN is a multicultural place to work and all, but this one threw me. Actually I knew the guy before I saw his name written down; it was only today when I was trying to find his office that I saw the written version on his door sign. Needless to say I walked past his office a number of times before I worked it out.
For the record, it’s “fa-HEEL-ee-oh”. I’ve probably got the actual spelling slightly wrong (perhaps this article won’t have quite the impact I anticipated) – but it’s something like that. I’ll double check it when I go back to work on Tuesday (long weekend, woohoo!).
Anyway, in the vein of pronouncing your name in no way like it’s spelled, from now on my name shall be pronounced “fair-WAH”, and if people ask I’ll tell them it’s Icelandish. Craig will become “wag”, Carrie will be “sha-SHEE-nee”, and their son Zach will be “WUK-wuk”. I also think that Jason will be “WAH-phon”, Michelle will be “fru-NARL”, and Ben will be “Bel-SHAZ-er-fah-NAH-nah”.
In contrast, Kristy will remain as “Kristy”, as most people already think her name is either Kirsty or Krystal – so just pronouncing it correctly will be enough of a shock.
4 comments
Does this mean I need to create a new web site too? What does <a href="http://stickfly.com" target="_blank">stickfly.com</a> translate to.
I used to/may still have the problem where people pronounce my name incorrectly – spelt J-o-h-a-n-n-a, it’s pronounced "Joanna" but I have had it as "Yo-Haana", "Yo-hanna" or "Jo-Hanna". It doesn’t help when my name is spelt the Finnish way which is pronounced "Yo-Haana" and of course, Johannes Sebastian Bach is pronounced "Yo-Haane Sebastian Baccchhhh"! The joy of names…
Yohanna, hey? Heh heh… you know that’s what I’ll be calling you from now on, Yo..
<br><br>Ben – Stickfly would be pronounced "rhee-WHO-hum". You’ll be pleased to know that belshazerfahnahnah.com is available – who’d have thought?!
Just double checked – his name is actually spelled "Virgilio".