Kamala to Chappell: Most Mispronounced Words of 2024 Revealed

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Chappell Roan performs at Outside Lands at Golden Gate Park on August 11, 2024 in San Francisco, California. (Source: Dana Jacobs/WireImage)

Pop star Chappell Roan and Vice President Kamala Harris were among the most talked about people this year. Their names were also among the most mispronounced names.

Since 2016, language learning company Babbel has been working with TV subtitling groups to identify the words that newscasters, politicians and other members of the media have the most trouble with.

On Wednesday, Babbel unveiled its 2024 word and name list, featuring Irish actors, American politicians and more.

“It’s a nice way to look back on the year and see everything that happened,” Esteban Touma, language and culture expert at Babbel, said in a statement.

Nancy Niedzielski, chair of the linguistics department at Rice University in Houston, also pointed out that most of the words on the list are not English and it is therefore not surprising that they are mispronounced in the United States. The key is correct pronunciation, she said. You would probably just hear them speak, she said.

“There are no real tricks other than knowing how the orthology works in this language,” she told The Associated Press.

The most mispronounced words of 2024

Chappell Roan rose to fame in 2024 for her music and Christmas collaboration with Sabrina Caprtenter. She was nominated for six Grammy awards.

But her name is often mispronounced, and Roan even calls out those who mispronounce her name during a live performance.

According to the list, her name is pronounced CHAP-uhl ROHN, not SHA-pel ROW-an.

Other actresses and celebrities on the list include Zendaya and Barry Keoghan.

Actress Zendaya’s name, who has starred in several films and television series including “Challengers,” “Dune” and “Euphoria,” is often incorrectly pronounced “zen-DIE-uh” but should be “zen-DAY-a.” ring.

Also the Irish actor’s last name Barry Keoghanwho starred in “Saltburn,” is pronounced Key-OH-Gin.

Kamala Harris’ name is often mispronounced

During Harris’ unsuccessful presidential bid this year, her great-nieces joined in stage at the Democratic National Convention to clarify how to pronounce her first name, pronounced COM-a-la.

Also on the list was US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose last name still leaves people speechless.

During his 2020 presidential bid, his campaign made posters and T-shirts with the pronunciation “Boot-Edge-Edge” to help.

Other mispronounced names

The Dutch Kooikerhondje, pronounced COY-ker-HUND-che, is a dog breed that entered the lexicon this year. That’s largely because Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani has a Kooikerhondje named Decoy, who won the hearts of fans by delivering a celebratory first pitch.

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in the weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, was also on the list. It is pronounced sem-ah-GLOO-tide, not SEE-mah-gloo-tide.

RELATED: The Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2024 is…

In addition, Phryge, the mascot of the Paris Olympics, was included in the summary. The word, pronounced FREE-je, was a reference to the Phrygian cap, a symbolic accessory of the French revolutionaries.

On-line Fast fashion giant Shein is SHE-in, not SHINE.

The newly discovered exoplanet Speculoos-3b is pronounced SPEK-yuh-lohss three bee.

The full list of mispronounced words can be found here.