So many celebrities. So many names. It's a good thing fans aren't on speaking terms with some of these celebs, as some of their multicultural names will leave the masses confused since people thought their pronunciations were correct. In fact, some of these celebs let fans get away with saying their names wrong and don't even say a thing. They are either used to it or enjoy us being wrong.
But no one likes to be wrong, let's face it. Everyone likes to think they know it all. Be a good person and let this list become public knowledge. No one wants to say legendary David Bowie's name wrong or mispronounce actress Amanda Seyfried's in conversation or confuse people when trying to explain to everyone who SZA is. Unless they don't mind. Which some don't, but clearly every celeb will appreciate the effort! After all, this is probably one of the perks of fame—getting to have everyone say their name—properly.
Here are 20 stars whose names aren't easy to say or names the world thought they were saying correctly but actually aren't.
20 It-Girl, Dua Lipa
How people are pronouncing it: Due-Ah Lip-Ah
How it's pronounced: Doo-Ah Lee-Pah
Dua Lipa is currently pop music's it-girl. Her self-titled debut album went on to sell over a million copies and gain her a whole load of plaques. New Rules became her first UK number one, going three times platinum. The song became her first US top 10 single and went triple platinum there too.
She won two BRIT awards in 2018 after being nominated for five, the most ever for a female artist.
This year she has gained herself four more BRIT nominations and even two at the Grammys! Her name is Albanian and seems to be a bit of a problem for some to pronounce. Wendy Williams mistakenly called her Dula Peep!
19 Young And Broke Hitmaker, Khalid
How people are pronouncing it: Ka-Led
How it's pronounced: Kuh-Leed
Khalid Donnel Robinson, also known as just Khalid is one of music's biggest breakout stars. His debut album went platinum in various countries including the States where it went two times. His hit singles include Location, Young Dumb & Broke, Eastside, Better and Love Lies featuring Normani which was taken from the Love, Simon soundtrack. His first album gave him numerous Grammy nominations and an MTV Music Video Award for Best New Artist. But the pronunciation of his name can be confused with producer DJ Khaled, and it is not pronounced like that at all.
18 Smooth As Ever, Sade
How people are pronouncing it: Say-d / Sadie
How it's pronounced: Shah-Day
British legend Sade is one of the UK's successful acts to make it even bigger in the US. Born Helen Folashade Adu, she goes by the stage name Sade which the band is named after.
Sade's name has confused people from time to time because they say it how it's somewhat spelled.
However, it's Shah-day. Pretty easy.
Her band's back catalog boasts iconic hits such as Smooth Operator, Your Love Is King and By Your Side. Their latest album Soldier of Love was released in 2010 and went straight to the US album charts with huge sales of 502,000 copies.
17 Her Heart Is In Havana, Camila Cabello
How people are pronouncing it: Cam-illa Cab-ello
How it's pronounced: Cam-ee-la Cab-ay-oh
Fresh out of girl group Fifth Harmony and now a solo singer, Camila Cabello had a successful 2018. Her hit song Havana topped the charts around the world and was one of the most awarded songs of last year. The song gained her 3 Music Award (US) wins and an MTV Music Video Music Award for Video of the Year. Her debut self-titled album went to number one and she went on a world tour with it. In a UK interview for Capital FM, Cabello expressed how her name was pronounced after breakfast host Roman Kept said it wrong.
16 God Is A Woman, Ariana Grande
How people are pronouncing it: Grand / Grahn-deh/day
How it's pronounced: Grand-Ee
Who doesn't love Ariana? How could you not?! Not only a sweetheart but she's literally the biggest pop star in the world right now with one of the best voices! To clear up some confusion, we've all been saying her name wrong. In a Beats 1 interview in the summer of 2018, Grande revealed her surname is actually pronounced Grand-Ee.
She explains that her grandpa said Grand-Ee, but her brother changed it from the "Americanized" version back to the Italian pronunciation.
Ariana celebrated her number one album Sweetener last year which scored her massive hits like No Tears Left To Cry, God Is A Woman, and Breathin' which all defined last year's charts. Her latest hits Thank U, Next and 7 Rings are currently taking over the charts and she will embark on a world tour later this year.
15 Call Him By His Name, Timothée Chalamet
How people are pronouncing it: Timo-Thee Cha-La-Met
How it's pronounced: Timo-Tay Shala-May
Young breakout actor Timothée Chalamet first caught our attention when he played the role of Elio Perlman in Call Me By Your Name which gave him a BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination. Since then he has starred in Hot Summer Nights and Lady Bird which has also picked up a lot of award buzz for him. In an interview with singer Frank Ocean, Chalamet explains: "The real pronunciation is Timo-tay,", "But I can't ask people to call me that; it just seems really pretentious." To make it easier, his first and second names rhyme; Timo-tay Shala-may.
14 The Real Ting, Stefflon Don
How people are pronouncing it: Stef London
How it's pronounced: Stef-Lon Don
Stefflon Don is one of UK's rising female rappers at the moment. She dropped her debut mixtape Real Ting in 2016 which caught a lot of people's eye.
Her stage name seems to confuse people thinking the "Lon Don" bit is said like the city of London but in fact, the Lon and the Don are separate
Her hit single Hurtin' Me featuring French Montana went platinum and she has since worked with Halsey, Luis Fonsi, Demi Lovato, and Ne-Yo. In 2017 she won Best Female at the MOBO awards, Best New Artist at the 2018 NME awards and was nominated for a BET Award in the "Best International Act" category.
13 Everyone's Favorite Twitter Account, Chrissy Teigen
How people are pronouncing it: Chrissy Tee-Gen
How it's pronounced: Chrissy Tie-Gen
Married to John Legend, an amazing cook, hilarious on social media, and has the cutest kids. Of course, we're talking about the one and only—Chrissy Teigen! After Ariana confused us all with the real pronunciation of her surname, Teigen thought she'd trigger us all with hers! An account expressed that we were saying Chrissy's name wrong all this time too, and she quote-tweeted it, saying "word! gave up a long time ago. last name is tie-gen not tee-gen." She also replied to someone else saying "I don’t correct people, ever. They can call me Janet and I won’t. Wrong order? I’ll eat it. Taxi going to the wrong airport? I’ll change my flight." Ugh, love her.
12 The Last Word, Amanda SEYFRIED
How people are pronouncing it: Amanda See-Freed
How it's pronounced: Amanda Sigh-Fred
Actress, model, and singer-songwriter Amanda Seyfried is multi-talented. Her first big screen role was playing the iconic Karen Smith in 2004's Mean Girls which led her to star in more big blockbuster films. To name a few, those movies are Mamma Mia!, Jennifer's Body, Dear John, Les Misérables, and Ted 2.
In an interview for Hollywood Streams when promoting the thriller movie Gone, Seyfried explained the worst pronunciations of her name are Sig-Fried or Sig-Freed.
However, she admits that her sister says it differently than her. She, like a lot of others, pronounces it See-Freed.
11 Bad Gal Riri, Also Known As Rihanna!
How people are pronouncing it: Ree-Ahh-Na
How it's pronounced: Ree-Anna
Rihanna is one of music and pop culture's biggest modern-day icons. Having released eight studio albums since 2005, Rihanna is one of the most successful acts on the charts. Her back catalog boasts 14 number one singles in the US, making her the youngest solo artist to achieve this. She has since ventured into acting starring in Battleship, Ocean's 8 and the animated film Home. She has also launched her own make-up line Fenty Beauty, which has gone on to do huge things.
Showbiz Tonight host AJ Hammer interviewed the star in 2012 and cleared up that her name was pronounced Ree-Anna and not Ree-Ahh-Na.
10 This Is Her, Zendaya
How people are pronouncing it: Zen-Dye-Ah
How it's pronounced: Zen-Day-Ah
Zendaya Colman is a US singer and actress who rose to fame when she got the part as Rocky Blue on the successful Disney Channel show Shake It Up.
When talking about the pronunciation of her name, Coleman explains "I think a lot of people see my name and think it's more fancy than it is," and that "They think Zendaya like papaya. It's just day."
Zendaya made her film breakthrough in 2017, playing lead roles as Michelle Jones aka MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming and as Anne Wheeler in the musical drama film The Greatest Showman, which were both huge box office smashes.
9 Joker, Jared Leto
How people are pronouncing it: Jared Lee-Toe
How it's pronounced: Jared Leh-Toe
US actor and 30 Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto has been dominating the entertainment industry for some time now! His acting debut started in 1995. The debut self-titled 30 Seconds To Mars album was released in 2002. Jared's latest film was 2018's drama thriller The Outsider. One of his most famous roles is playing the Joker in Suicide Squad. When speaking to Jane magazine, Leto spoke about his surname explaining its Leh-Toe, not Lee-Toe which seems to be the most common mistake.
8 The Late David Bowie
How people are pronouncing it: David Bow-ee
How it's pronounced: David Boh-wee
David Bowie is one of music's biggest icons. Sadly, he passed away in January 2016, days after the release of his 25th studio album Blackstar, which topped the charts globally, and his 69th birthday.
Many say Bow-Wee but a pretty evenly split half of his fan base says Boh-Wee.
Well. We can, in fact, tell you, it's Boh-Wee. The Brixton, London born legend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and received five platinum and nine gold certifications for his albums in the US. In his home country, the UK, he had 11 number one albums.
7 Sweden's Darkest Pop Export, Tove Lo
How people are pronouncing it: Tove Lo (how it's read)
How it's pronounced: Too-Veh Lu
Tove Lo is one of Sweden's most credible pop stars. Not only has she written big hits for herself like Habits and Talking Body, but also for others like Lorde's Homemade Dynamite, Girls Aloud's Something New, and Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do, which gave her her first Grammy nomination.
When talking about her name, Tove said it's "Too-veh Lu" but she doesn't mind those who pronounce it the way it is spelled. "It's a Scandinavian name, so no-one's ever going to say it right in English," she laughs. "And also, Too-veh Lu sounds a bit like 'to the loo' which is not so good. So Tove Lo is alright."
6 Ashley (Also Known As Halsey)
How people are pronouncing it: Hal-See
How it's pronounced: Halls-See
Born Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, she goes by a stage name that's an anagram of her first name: Halsey.
Her debut album Badlands brought the singer-songwriter into the industry as an established artist with a platinum album in the US.
Since then she has gone on to collaborate with The Chainsmokers on their global number one hit song Closer and achieved her first solo US number one at the beginning of January 2019 with Without Me. Her 2017 second studio album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom became her first number one album in both the US and Canada.
5 She Loves To Get Her 2 On, Tinashe
How people are pronouncing it: Ta-Na-Shay / Tina-Shay / Tin-Ishi
How it's pronounced: Tee-Na-Shay
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Los Angeles as a child to pursue a profession in entertainment, which is exactly what she did! She started out in acting, which included roles as a motion-capture model in the animated film The Polar Express in 2004 and recurring roles in Out of Jimmy's Head between 2007-2008, and Two and a Half Men in 2008 and 2009. She released her debut album Aquarius in 2014 which included the platinum-selling single 2 On. Since then she has released two follow up albums Nightride and Joyride. In a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Tinashe explained it was Tee-Na-Shay as she and Ryan called up other DJ presenters seeing if they knew how to say it correctly too.
4 The Woman, Eva Mendes
How people are pronouncing it: E-Va Mendes
How it's pronounced: Ava Mendes
US actress, model, and businesswoman Eva Mendes has had a professional resume spanning over 20 years. Her first acting role was playing Kir in 1998's US horror film Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Since then she has gone on to star in 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch, The Women, and The Other Guys.
She has been partnered with Ryan Gosling since 2011 and has had two daughters with him.
She has designed for New York & Company and is the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a successful makeup line sold at Walgreens. It's safe to say this woman is a BOSS.
3 Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger
How it's pronounced: Nicole Sher-zing-er
US singer, actress, and television personality Nicole Scherzinger started out in the girl group Eden's Crush, which was short-lived. However, her big break was when she became the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, the girl group that achieved world domination. Their debut album PCD spawned hits like Don't Cha, Stickwitu, Buttons, and Beep. Their second album Doll Domination included the hit When I Grow Up, in 2008. The band disbanded in 2010 and Nicole went solo after that. She has also become an X Factor judge on both the US and UK editions and acted in a US television film, plus in the animated Disney film Moana.
2 Solána Also Known As SZA
How people are pronouncing it: S-Z-A, Sea-Zah, Zah
How it's pronounced: Siz-Ah
SZA is one of the latest stars to bring R&B back to the forefront. Her debut album Ctrl spanned hits like Love Galore featuring Travis Scott and The Weeknd.
The album and its songs were nominated for four Grammy Awards as well as SZA being nominated for Best New Artist in 2017.
Her collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, All The Stars, has gained her four more nominations at the ceremony. Other acts SZA has collaborated with include Maroon 5, Lorde, Calvin Harris, Chance The Rapper, Cardi B, and Rihanna.
1 DJ, David Guetta
How people are pronouncing it: David Gw-Etta
How it's pronounced: David Get-Err
DJ, producer, and songwriter David Guetta has been cooking up hits for nearly 20 years now. Guetta is from France, and the 'u' in Guetta is silent, meaning it's Get-Err and not Gw-Etta.
Guetta's most notable hits and collaborations include When Love Takes Over with Kelly Rowland, Getting Over You with Fergie, Who's That Chick? with Rihanna, 2U with Justin Bieber, and Titanium with Sia, to name a few. He released his debut album Just a Little More Love, in 2002. He has won two Grammy Awards for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical and two MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Electronic.
Sources: BBC, YouTube, Good House Keeping, The Sun
