Sorry, But You've Been Mispronouncing All of These Celebrity Names

Sometimes even werewolves get a case of the scaries. Because if we're being honest, we're still a little shook by Taylor Lautner's July revelation that he allowed his legions of fans to mispronounce his name (FYI: It's Lout-ner, not Lawt-ner) more or less to keep the peace. 

"I never corrected anybody for decades," the Twilight star admitted on the July 5 episode of The Unplanned Podcast With Matt & Abby. He speculates the first time it happened was around age 11, "like after Sharkboy and Lavagirl."

As Taylor, now 31, added, "I wasn't gonna tell people they were pronouncing my name wrong."

And he's not the only unfailingly polite star in Hollywood. 

Celebs like Alicia Silverstone, Lindsay Lohan and Raven-Symoné have pretty much just let fans' missteps slide for decades and Chrissy Teigen even proclaimed in 2018 that she'd prefer everyone just keep saying her name wrong rather than commit to the proper Norwegian pronunciation.  

But if you're the perfectionist type, we've got your guide to every last celebrity name you've definitely been saying wrong. 

Speaking with E! News in February 2022, Taylor revealed the first syllable of his last name rhymes with "out" instead of being pronounced as "lot." 

After much speculation surrounding her moniker, the model set the record straight in a TikTok shared by Tory Burch on Feb. 15, where she provided "the Polish way" to say it. She has also introduced herself by pronouncing her last name "Rat-Ah-Cow-Skee."

While Raven-Symoné's character could see the future on That's So Raven, fans likely didn't see this coming. The actress revealed in a January 2023 TikTok that her name has been mispronounced for years and is actually pronounced See-mon-ye.

After Adam Sandler accidentally mispronounced Fraser's last name during a December 2022 interview for Variety's Actors on Actors series, the George of the Jungle star swung in with a trick that can help fans remember how to say the moniker correctly: Fraser rhymes with razor.

During a Q&A in October 2022, the powerhouse singer praised a fan for "perfectly" pronouncing her name as "uh-dale" when asking a question.

For her introductory video shared to TikTok in February 2022, Lindsay Lohan inadvertently set the record straight on how to correctly pronounce her last name, which is "Lo-wen."

The Clueless actress set the record straight on how to pronounce her name on TikTok. Alicia said she's not bothered if fans don't get it right, noting, "But my sweet mama didn't like it... so for her... get it right! Ali-SEE-yuh."

"My name is Kesha. Keh-sha," the singer said on TikTok. "Not Keisha. Not Ketchup. Kesha."

The 49-year-old actor's uncle revealed in an interview with Apple TV+ that we've all been pronouncing "Theroux" incorrectly, including Justin himself! "The main character is played by Justin Theroux, my nephew," Paul Theroux explained of the actor starring in his novel's television adaptation. The novelist later poked fun at his nephew, saying, "Sometimes he calls himself Justin tha-row [laughs]. It's a French name, it's Theroux."

The pop star dropped jaws in 2018 after she explained the correct way to say her last name. When speaking about her engagement to Pete Davidson at the time, Ariana discussed whether or not she'd take his last name in an interview with Beats 1's Ebro Darden. That's when she blurted out the "gran-dee" pronunciation when describing her own last name.

The Cravings cookbook author blew everyone's mind when she shared the real way to say her last name. During an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan in 2018, the model admitted it was her "fault" for the mispronunciation. "It's been 25 years, I'm tired of correcting people," she expressed.

The lasso of truth! The Wonder Woman actress chatted with Jimmy Kimmel about the pronunciation (guh-dote) and the meaning of her last name, which is "Riverbank" in Hebrew. "The Gadot used to be Greenstein," she confessed of her original last name, but her parents "felt" it had more oomph.

Prepare to be mind blown. During an appearance on Conan in 2012, the actor shared the "only two places that that is pronounced correctly, my last name, is in Sweden and in Ikea." 

The star has openly discussed just how frequently people screw up his name. However, in 2011, he told The Hollywood Reporter he'd never change it because he was named after his step-grandfather, who pronounced it in the same way.

According to the legendary singer's IMDb page, her stage name is pronounced shar-day.

In 2014, the Fargo alum confirmed his last name is pronounced boo-sem-ee during a panel for Running Late with Scott Rogowsky. However, he said he doesn't "correct people" if they say boo-shh-em-me because "it's not wrong."

The Bombshell actress has become a household name but it appears we've been all saying it wrong. In 2014, Charlize told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that her last name is always botched. "They screw it up," she quipped. "I almost want to make an audiotape on how to pronounce my name."

The Mean Girls alum has us all feeling like Karen because she revealed in 2012 during an interview with Hollywood Streams that the correct pronunciation of her last name is sigh-frid. Although, she admitted that her "sister says it differently" than she does.