Difficult Names to Pronounce (And their correct pronunciations)

[Admiral Squish]

I only realized I was saying sahuagin wrong when I checked out the D&D online game, where they had actual people say it.
Also, I've always said it 'Oat-yoog'. Or 'oh-tyoog'.

Work on my setting has led me to whole new realms of failure in terms of pronunciation. I've pretty much given up on saying anything aloud in Nahuatl. Mandarin seemed easier, but then I tried it in front of my mandarin-speaking friend and was sworn to never do it again. Inuit words are basically entire sentences without spaces. Then there's dozens of other native american languages, too, and countless dialects of each, every single one of them bearing their own linguistic weirdness.

[Kami2awa]

Otyugh - OH-tee-ug.
Daemon - I say DAY-mun, even though I actually speak a little Latin and know it ought to be DYE-monn. Not sure why, to be honest.
Sahuagin - sa-HWA-gin, with a hard "g"

Also, I don't speak French, but I was under the impression that "grognard" is pronounced "GRAWN-yar."

How about Aarakocra? I pronounce it "AIR-ah-KO-krah," but I have no idea if that is correct.

"Daemon" can be used as an alternative spelling of "demon" in English, and it's pronounced the same. It also by itself refers to a guardian or guiding spirit, rather than an evil one.

[Anonymouswizard]

Mandarin seemed easier, but then I tried it in front of my mandarin-speaking friend and was sworn to never do it again.

Really? I found that once you get past the fact it uses a different set of sounds (which can be difficult) Mandarin is a fairly simple language to pronounce. There's only four tones, with only the third tone (down and then up) giving me any trouble despite it being in my friend's name. Pinyin is also a consistent phonetic system, so once you've learnt it you should be able to get a new pronunciation almost instantly. (Also pause between each word as if there was a comma there, your pause will be slightly long but you'll be speaking properly)

[Kalmageddon]

Since I'm italian, I tend to pronounce things as written, which oddly enough, according to WotC, makes me use the correct pronounciation for most of those weird monster names, except "drow". Here in Italy I don't know anyone that doesn't pronounce it "drow", with the "ow" sound identical to the verb "own", sometimes skipping the "w" sound entirely and producing something like "drò".

[Anonymouswizard]

Since I'm italian, I tend to pronounce things as written, which oddly enough, according to WotC, makes me use the correct pronounciation for most of those weird monster names, except "drow". Here in Italy I don't know anyone that doesn't pronounce it "drow", with the "ow" sound identical to the verb "own", sometimes skipping the "w" sound entirely and producing something like "drò".

I'm fairly certain drow should rhyme with how and not though, the latter would be dro. I've never met anybody who doesn't try and pronounce D&D names phonetically.

The one that still gets me is the fact that Americans pronounce Wally as Waldo, which makes talking to my half-american friend confusing at times.

The best mispronunciation I ever heard was 'wampire', which made me think of a chibi count Dracula.

[SCAL37]

In the case of "Otyugh", I tend to pronounce the "gh" as /γ/ (voiced velar fricative) as in Irish and the "ty" as /c/ (voiceless palatal plosive) as in Hungarian (that sound is also present in Irish). "Daemon" I pronounce as in Latin (I learned my Latin pronunciation from Ars Magica, which uses classical pronunciation), I pronounce the y in "Wyld" as /y/ (like German "ü" or French "u"), and "wyrm" as "wirm" rather than "worm" (which I know doesn't make sense as a distinction in a lot of accents).

I should think of some more of these. I have a fondness for pronunciation, which unfortunately leaves me with a tendency to create characters with names that other people find hard to pronounce; I gave my Guild Wars character a name with three syllables and one vowel, and my Pathfinder Society character a name where neither of the vowels exist in most forms of English.

[Keltest]

I'm fairly certain drow should rhyme with how and not though, the latter would be dro. I've never met anybody who doesn't try and pronounce D&D names phonetically.

The one that still gets me is the fact that Americans pronounce Wally as Waldo, which makes talking to my half-american friend confusing at times.

The best mispronunciation I ever heard was 'wampire', which made me think of a chibi count Dracula.

Ive never heard an American "pronounce" Wally as Waldo, theyre just two separate names (or shortenings of a larger source name). And living in America I think I may have a larger sample size than you.

[Anonymouswizard]

Ive never heard an American "pronounce" Wally as Waldo, theyre just two separate names (or shortenings of a larger source name). And living in America I think I may have a larger sample size than you.

I'm joking, I'm talking about the 'Where's Wally' books. There was no need to change the name on those books. It also makes people fail to get my were-wally joke (on a full moon you become invisible, as long as you're in a crowd).

[hewhosaysfish]

Since I'm italian, I tend to pronounce things as written, which oddly enough, according to WotC, makes me use the correct pronounciation for most of those weird monster names, except "drow". Here in Italy I don't know anyone that doesn't pronounce it "drow", with the "ow" sound identical to the verb "own", sometimes skipping the "w" sound entirely and producing something like "drò".

I know on an intellectual level that "drow" should be pronounced to rhyme with the English "throw" rather than like the English "cow" because it is apparently derived from Scandanvian folklore and the word "trow" which is also the origin on word "troll"....

...but I'd been playing DnD for years before I heard that etymonlogy and I had already internalised drow-rhymes-with-cow. So that's still how I pronounce it even though I know that it's incorrect.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Also, I don't speak French, but I was under the impression that "grognard" is pronounced "GRAWN-yar

Close, but in French you always without exception stress the last syllable of a word. You can be speaking perfect French but stressing the first syllable and you'd end up sounding like an American tourist.

[Lord Torath]

We already had the Drow pronunciation discussion. Spoiler: It rhymes with "Bow".

[GungHo]

Warhammer 40k daemons- are they closer to DnD demons or DnD daemons?

Neither, really. I guess if you have to relate it to something, WH daemons are closer to Obryths, which are a demon subtype. WH daemons are Things that Should Not Be that drive chaos and insanity wherever they go. They have a lot less physicality than D&D demons have taken on in recent editions, and them being able to take on physical form in Realspace is a Bad Thing.

[Kalmageddon]

We already had the Drow pronunciation discussion. Spoiler: It rhymes with "Bow".

In the FAQ of D&D Advanced they say it's pronounced like "dràw"... Unless I misread...

[Maglubiyet]

What about djinn and djinni? I have always said them like JIN and GENIE.

[Anonymouswizard]

What about djinn and djinni? I have always said them like JIN and GENIE.

Jin and jin-ee is what I've always heard, although I can see an argument for jin-ni or ji-ni.

[BootStrapTommy]

DDO taught me how to pronounce sahuagin.

It's sah-WAH-gwin.

Here's a question. How is "Gwynedd" pronounced? Or "Penddraig"?

[ddude987]

"Daemon" can be used as an alternative spelling of "demon" in English, and it's pronounced the same. It also by itself refers to a guardian or guiding spirit, rather than an evil one.

Not necessarily. At least in the computer field for Unix based systems "daemon" is the term for a service and is pronounced DAY-mon and the word comes from daemon as in demon

[VoxRationis]

DDO taught me how to pronounce sahuagin.

It's sah-WAH-gwin.

Here's a question. How is "Gwynedd" pronounced? Or "Penddraig"?

Those are from Welsh. I'm not sure about w and y (I think they have vowel values, but I'm not sure what they are), but dd is the voiced interdental fricative, the same sound that begins "thy" in English. Double-l is another one that ends up pronounced differently than one might think, but again, I don't know that off the top of my head.

[Maglubiyet]

This one looks easy on the surface, but I've heard it different ways: WYVERN.

Is it WHY-vern or w'VERN? Or something else?

[Keltest]

This one looks easy on the surface, but I've heard it different ways: WYVERN.

Is it WHY-vern or w'VERN? Or something else?

I believe both are technically correct, depending on who's talking. I pronounce it WHY-vern myself.

[Maglubiyet]

Here's a question. How is "Gwynedd" pronounced? Or "Penddraig"?

"Gwynedd" is pronounced Gwyneth, like Gwyneth Paltrow.

"Penddraig" is Pen Thraig.

I believe both are technically correct, depending on who's talking. I pronounce it WHY-vern myself.

Yeah, I always say w'VERN.

[Lord Torath]

This one looks easy on the surface, but I've heard it different ways: WYVERN.

Is it WHY-vern or w'VERN? Or something else?

I've always said it like WEAVE-urn. <shrug>

[VoxRationis]

'wI.vern

Sigh. I wish I had IPA on this computer. I pronounce it with the emphasis on the first syllable, the first vowel a lower-close front unrounded vowel (like in "sick"), and the second one a schwa.

[GungHo]

I usually pronounce it wi-vern (short I). I know plenty of people who pronounce it why-vern. I don't think it matters, though Wikipedia seems to indicate it's why-vern, if I am reading the pronunciation guide right. Ultimately it's a made up creature. It's not like you're messing with someone's name and calling some dude named Blake Bah-LAH-kay. If the wyverns are upset, they're welcome to #faeworldproblems. There are some things though that do sound a little strange... like if you're pronouncing dragon as dray-ghun, but wyvern seems to be one of those things that it's okay to vary on and no one really gets upset about. The drow thing, though, I have seen fights around that.