You've Been Pronouncing These Celebrity Names All Wrong

Some celebrities have household names, but that doesn't mean we are saying those names correctly. And even when these celebrities try to correct folks who are mispronouncing their names it often goes in one ear and out the other. Here are the names of five famous people whose monikers have been butchered for many years (plus the correct pronunciations).

1. Adele

The singer/songwriter recently shook the world when she congratulated a caller on a talk show for pronouncing her name correctly. She noted that it should be "Ah-DELL" rather than "Uh-DELL," reported Rolling Stone. But even though she said it out loud, people disagreed on what they heard. CNN said it was actually pronounced "Uh-DALE." And one expert on speech modification claimed that Adele didn't pronounce the final "l" in her name, so we should be saying it as "Uh-DE-u." Well, no matter what her fans call her, Adele continues to sell a boatload of albums each year, plus is headlining a long-awaited Ceasar's Palace residency in Las Vegas.

2. Aaliyah

The late, great singer Aaliyah no doubt bit her tongue more than a few times when her name was mispronounced. But finally, she politely told "The Late Late Show" host Craig Kilborn in 2000 that it's "AH-lee-yah, like Muhammad Ali." Not "Ah-LEE-yah," which is how most people pronounce it. She even tried to get ahead of the problem by putting the pronunciation of her name on the cover of her first album. That didn't seem to work, but at least the singer can rest in peace knowing her name inspired a new generation. In fact, as of 2022 Aaliyah is the 61st most popular baby name for little girls; it was nonexistent on the baby name chart before 1992 and started taking off in 2000.

3. Lindsay Lohan

She famously played a character named Cady Heron in "Mean Girls," whose first name was supposed to be said "Cad-ee," but everyone butchered into sounding like "Katie." No doubt this was familiar territory for Lindsay, whose last name has been misspoken for two-plus decades as "Lo-HAN." However, if her personal TikTok is any indication, which it should be, it's actually pronounced "Low-En." Zero emphasis on the "h." Minds blown.

4. Jake Gyllenhaal

Nope, it's not "JILL-en-HALL" or whatever you think it is. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal's Swedish surname is supposed to be pronounced "YEEL-en-Hyl-luh." Watch him say it for Conan O'Brien. Gyllenhaal told the talk show host that only in Sweden and in Ikea (the Swedish department store) is his name pronounced correctly.

5. Ariana Grande

Blame this one on Starbucks culture. The pop star's last name is traditionally pronounced "GRAN-dee," but most of the world knows her as "GRAN-day." The public isn't totally to blame though, because at some point, Ariana says, her brother Frankie started saying "GRAN-day." However, she prefers the traditional pronunciation because that's how her Grandpa said it. Awwww.