Phonetics in naming

fəˈnɛtɪks ɪn neɪming

In some languages you can look at a written word and be able to pronounce it clearly from the way it is spelled or structured, or hear a word said aloud and be able to spell it exactly. These languages are phonetic. Japanese and Chinese have individual symbols for each sound. Spanish, Italian and Vietnamese are phonetic in the way they use their alphabets. English on the other hand is notorious for its number of homonyms and the sheer impossibility of knowing how a word is spelled just by hearing it – hence the existence of spelling bees!

In English we often say a word differently to how it is spelled, or spell it differently to how it is said. For example: the present-tense read [ri:d] versus the past read [red]. Or read (past) with the same pronunciation of red (the colour).

There are many ways to pronounce ‘ough’:
borough (a – or if you are American it’s ‘o’)
cough (off)
ought (aw)
plough (ow)
rough (uff)
though (o)
through (oo)

This is wonderfully illustrated in the poem O-U-G-H: A Fresh Hack at an Old Knot by Charles Battell Loomis from 1894.

I’m taught p-l-o-u-g-h
S’all be pronouncé “plow.”
“Zat’s easy w’en you know,” I say,
“Mon Anglais, I’ll get through!”

My teacher say zat in zat case,
O-u-g-h is “oo.”
And zen I laugh and say to him,
“Zees Anglais make me cough.”

He say “Not ‘coo’ but in zat word,
O-u-g-h is ‘off,'”
“Oh, Sacre bleu! Such varied sounds
Of words make me hiccough!”

He say, “Again mon frien’ ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is ‘up’
In hiccough.” Zen I cry, “No more,
You make my t’roat feel rough.”

“Non, non!” he cry, “You are not right;
O-u-g-h is ‘uff.'”
I say, “I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though.”

“In time you’ll learn, but now you’re wrong!
O-u-g-h is ‘owe'”
“I’ll try no more, I s’all go mad,
I’ll drown me in ze lough!”

“But ere you drown yourself,” said he,
“O-u-g-h is ‘ock.'”
He taught no more, I held him fast
And killed him wiz a rough.

Names and words are pronounced differently across the world, and it is vital that when naming your company, product or brand that you take into consideration how it will be interpreted phonetically elsewhere. The way that a name is pronounced is as fundamental to the way that your brand is seen, heard and remembered as your logo is.

Your brand name should be easy to read. You and others should be able to see it written, and be able to pronounce it correctly out loud. It must be easy to pronounce. If you hear someone say the name, it should be easy for you to repeat. It should be easy to spell. If several people hear a name, they should all be able to spell it correctly.

A fantastic example of a well-established brand which has faced the ongoing issue of having a name which is difficult to pronounce around the world is L’Occitane en Provence. I know that I personally have pronounced this incorrectly for as long as I can remember, and it appears that many others do too. Check out this endearing video produced by L’Occitane themselves to help clear the matter up.

Image credit: Andy Graham