The Power of Proper Pronunciation

Anne Wojcicki, Indra Nooyi, Ginni Rometty, and Oscar Munoz are all distinguished Fortune 500 CEOs with something else in common: Their names are often mispronounced. They’re far from alone; in a poll by Namecoach, a company that embeds audio name pronunciations online, 38% of the respondents reported that they’d had their name mispronounced at work. Similarly, 74% of employees said they had struggled to pronounce people’s names at work, which led some to avoid introducing, talking to, or calling on those colleagues.

While mispronouncing an employee’s name may appear to be innocuous, it comes at a great cost. Proper name pronunciations is an often overlooked, readily attainable, and easily accessible practice to promote inclusion and belonging in the workplace, which may be particularly relevant to international employees or employees of color. Names are central to our identity, often connecting us to our family, culture, and history. Research suggests that proper name pronunciation promotes belonging and psychological safety and, in the team context, fosters team formation, development, and cohesion.1 Our brains become activated when our names are used, and mispronunciation of our names has been shown to induce feelings of alienation.2

If You’re Unsure How to Pronounce a Name

Not knowing how to pronounce someone’s name can be a daunting, stress-inducing situation that is often accompanied by a sense of vulnerability. The worry of accidentally offending someone or being perceived as disrespectful can be a heavy burden to carry. In these moments, it’s crucial to remember that everyone makes mistakes and that the willingness to learn and improve is most important — but it’s imperative not to presume pronunciation or put the onus of correcting your mistakes on others. In recognizing these challenges, we offer the following suggestions.

Ask. Various interactions afford you the opportunity to learn a name’s pronunciation. For example, upon meeting someone, ask how to pronounce their name. Even when the spelling of a name is consistent, its pronunciation can nonetheless vary. For example, Cassandra could be pronounced kuh-SAN-druh or kuh-SAHN-druh, and Xavier could be pronounced ZAY-vee-er or ex-ZAY-vee-er. If you are going to introduce or meet someone whose name you have read but not said aloud before, ask them how to pronounce their name or whether your pronunciation was correct after saying it for the first time.