This name pronouncer speaks any name aloud in your browser, splits it into syllables and marks the stressed beat, so you can hear it and see it at the same time. Unlike our name meaning lookup or name variants finder, it only tells you how a name is said. Below the tool are 50 names people most often get wrong, each with a plain-English respelling.
Capital letters mark the stressed syllable. The respellings are approximations for English speakers, not phonetic transcriptions, and many names have more than one accepted pronunciation. When you can, ask the person.
Irish, Scottish and Welsh Names
| Name | How to say it |
|---|---|
| Saoirse | SEER-sha in Irish; actor Saoirse Ronan says SUR-sha |
| Siobhán | shi-VAWN — Irish form of Joan |
| Niamh | NEEV — the "mh" is a v sound |
| Caoimhe | KEE-va (KWEE-va in parts of Ireland) |
| Aoife | EE-fa |
| Sinéad | shi-NAYD — Irish form of Janet |
| Oisín | uh-SHEEN |
| Tadhg | TYGE — rhymes with "tiger" without the -er |
| Aisling | ASH-ling |
| Eoin | OH-in — Irish form of John |
| Pádraig | PAW-drig — Irish form of Patrick |
| Róisín | roe-SHEEN |
| Siân | SHAHN — Welsh form of Jane |
| Rhys | REESE |
| Dafydd | DAV-ith — Welsh "dd" is the "th" in "the" |
| Ioan | YO-an — Welsh form of John |
European Names
| Name | How to say it |
|---|---|
| Joaquín | wah-KEEN — Spanish |
| Guillermo | gee-YAIR-mo — Spanish form of William |
| Jesús | heh-SOOS — Spanish |
| Giuseppe | joo-ZEP-peh — Italian form of Joseph |
| Giovanni | jo-VAHN-nee — Italian form of John |
| Chiara | KYAH-rah — Italian "ch" is a hard k |
| Anaïs | ah-nah-EES — French, three syllables |
| Benoît | ben-WAH — French form of Benedict |
| Thibault | tee-BOH — French, silent final letters |
| Søren | SUH-ren — Danish |
| Johann | YO-hahn — German "J" is a y sound |
| Zbigniew | ZBEEG-nyef — Polish |
| Wojciech | VOY-chekh — Polish |
| Małgorzata | mow-go-ZHAH-tah — Polish form of Margaret |
| Katarzyna | kah-tah-ZHIH-nah — Polish form of Katherine |
Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Other Names
| Name | How to say it |
|---|---|
| Xin | SHIN — pinyin "x" is close to sh |
| Qian | CHYEN — pinyin "q" is close to ch |
| Zhou | JOE — pinyin "zh" is close to j |
| Zhang | JAHNG |
| Nguyen | NGWIN, one syllable; many Vietnamese Americans say "win" |
| Ryo | RYOH — Japanese, one syllable, not "ree-oh" |
| Xochitl | SO-cheel in the US; SHO-cheetl in Nahuatl |
| Chaim | KHY-im — Hebrew, "ch" from the back of the throat |
| Khalid | KHAH-lid — Arabic, same throaty "kh" |
English Names That Don't Sound Like They Look
| Name | How to say it |
|---|---|
| Sean | SHAWN — borrowed from Irish Seán |
| Geoffrey | JEF-ree |
| Imogen | IM-uh-jen |
| Hermione | her-MY-uh-nee |
| Penelope | puh-NEL-uh-pee, four syllables |
| Phoebe | FEE-bee |
| Ralph | RAYF in traditional British use; RALF elsewhere |
| Cholmondeley | CHUM-lee — English surname |
| Featherstonehaugh | FAN-shaw — English surname |
| Menzies | MING-iss — Scottish surname |
Five Spelling Rules That Explain Most of These
Most of the names above only look hard because they follow a different language's spelling rules. Five rules explain most of them:
- Irish "bh" and "mh" sound like v. That covers Siobhán, Niamh and Caoimhe. A slender "s" (next to i or e) becomes sh, as in Sinéad and Róisín.
- Welsh "dd" is the "th" in "the", and "si" before a vowel is sh. That covers Dafydd and Siân.
- Polish "w" is v, "rz" is zh, "ł" is w, and "ch" is a throaty kh. Wojciech and Małgorzata stop being scary once you know these.
- Pinyin "x", "q" and "zh" are close to sh, ch and j. Chinese names are spelled with the pinyin system, which assigns these letters sounds English doesn't give them.
- Italian "ch" is a hard k, and "gi" before a vowel is j. That covers Chiara and Giovanni.
The tool's breakdown splits a name on its vowel groups, and each chunk is one beat you say, so "Genevieve" becomes Ge·ne·vieve. It also gives a rough respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals. Stress matters more than people expect: "PEN-uh-lo-pee" and "puh-NEL-uh-pee" use the same letters, but only one is right.
Getting a Name Right Out Loud
- Slow the audio down and repeat each syllable
- Check which syllable takes the stress
- Ask the person and repeat it back once
- Write your own respelling in your notes
- Guess from English spelling rules
- Anglicize a name without asking first
- Swap in a nickname to avoid the real name
- Apologize at length. A quick correction is enough.
A Note on Browser Voices
The audio comes from your browser's built-in speech engine, so which voices you get depends on your device and operating system. An English voice reading an Irish or Polish name guesses from the spelling and can get it wrong. That's why the table above exists. If the audio and the table disagree, go with the table. Picking a voice in the name's own language (Polish, Italian, French) usually fixes it.
If you don't hear anything, your browser may not support the Web Speech API or may have no voices installed. The syllable breakdown still works, because it's worked out from the text rather than read aloud.
Common Questions
How do I hear a name pronounced?
Type the name into the box and press Speak. Your browser reads it aloud. You can switch voices, slow it down, or replay it as often as you like.
How do you pronounce Siobhan?
shi-VAWN. It's the Irish form of Joan, and the "bh" makes a v sound. Niamh (NEEV) and Caoimhe (KEE-va) follow the same rule.
How do you pronounce Nguyen?
In Vietnamese it's a single syllable, roughly NGWIN, starting with the "ng" sound from the end of "sing". Many Vietnamese Americans simply say "win", so it's worth asking which the person uses.
Why does the spoken version sound a little off?
Text-to-speech engines guess pronunciation from spelling, so names from other languages can come out wrong, especially in an English voice. Check the name against the tables on this page, or choose a voice in the name's own language.
What's the polite way to ask someone how to say their name?
Just ask directly: "How do you pronounce your name?" Then say it back once to check. Most people would much rather be asked than hear their name guessed wrong in every meeting.
Sources
- Irish orthography — Wikipedia
- Siobhan — Behind the Name
- Polish orthography — Wikipedia
- Pinyin — Wikipedia
Updated September 2026: added respellings for 50 commonly mispronounced names, the spelling rules behind them, and new FAQs.