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December 2008
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How To Say That Name

I was once on a flight with boyrobot when the flight attendant kept calling out for a passenger named “NIGH-GEN”. It took her a few times before I realized, “wtf. I think she’s talking about me???” You’d think I’d be used to this butchering of my last name…the most common of all vietnamese names: NGUYEN.

I’ve heard nu-yen, wen, nuh-guy-yen, etc. but never nigh-gen. I think the g part confused me.

Anyways, I get it…my last name is hard to pronounce. I don’t even really care anymore. But if you’re curious about how to say my name and other hard to pronounce names, this website is tons of help!

How To Say That Name

It has sound files you can listen to spoken by native speakers!

I checked “Nguyen” and it’s legit. It’s so legit, that I don’t think a normal english speaking person would be able to pronounce it. The americanized way to say Nguyen is “nuh-wen”, at least that’s what I tell people!

Comments

Comment from Louise
Posted: December 4, 2008 at 10:44 am

My friend has the same last name as you and he said once, a substitute teacher pronounced it “Niggajawee-in.”

Comment from yoshi
Posted: December 4, 2008 at 11:00 am

hmm i always pronounced that name as nuh-gew-en…

Comment from che
Posted: December 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm

so many people butcher my name that i find it humorous… especially cuz its particularly a long name so its entertaining to hear people struggle through the whole name before i finally say, ‘oh thats me!’ hehe… all you have to do is sound it out.

Comment from RiSE
Posted: December 4, 2008 at 8:03 pm

i had a viet friend with the same last night, teachers would say “NEW-GUY-IN”. He always said it was pronounced like “win”

Comment from kristen
Posted: December 9, 2008 at 11:54 am

I too tell them it’s “win”…and that the N.G.U.Y are silent. Ha. I once heard “Nigeria.” WTF.