2023 was the year of mispronouncing names, from politicians and athletes to high-profile celebrities and fictional characters.
Since 2016, the closed-captioning company has compiled the list on behalf of language platform Babbel, bringing together all the terms that newsreaders, politicians, public figures, and others struggled to pronounce correctly on TV.
In no particular order, here are the top 10:
10: SZA
SZA. Getty/Omar Vega/FilmMagic
SZA is the stage name of singer-songwriter Solána Imani Rowe, who’s had quite a year — becoming the eighth-most streamed artist in Spotify’s Wrapped for 2023. Even back in 2013, music writers were giving advice on how to pronounce it.
Pronounciation: Siz-uh
9: Enceladus
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Saturn’s sixth moon hit the headlines in May when NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope spotted a massive plume of water, twice the length of the continental US, spurting from it. The finding suggests that the planet could potentially host life.
Pronunciation: En-seh-luh-duhs
Cillian Murphy
Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer. Universal Pictures
Barbenheimer made July the month of bright pink paint, nuclear explosions, and not being sure how to say “Cillian.”
The actor’s title role in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” put his name back on our radars.
Pronunciation: Kil-ee-uhn
Popocatépetl
The most active volcano in Mexico, Popocatépetl, erupted and spewed ash nearly 2,000 feet in the air. Screenshot YouTube/webcamsdemexico
This active volcano in Mexico threatened to erupt in May, prompting authorities to raise alert levels for the millions of people living nearby.
For those unfamiliar with the native language of Nahuatl, pronouncing the volcano’s name — meaning ‘Smoking Hill’ — could be a challenge.
Pronunciation: Poh-poh-kah-teh-peh-til
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce (left) and Taylor Swift (right). Dustin Satloff via Getty Images; Jeff Kravitz/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management via Getty Images
Dating Taylor Swift is a whole other level of fame, and nothing proves this more than the fact that in mid-September — the week that Kelce said he’d invited her to one of his games — Google saw a massive spike in the search term “kelce how to pronounce.”
His last name can be pronounced two ways, and Travis has said both are correct!
Pronunciation: Kel-see or Kels
Iam Tongi
Iam Tongi stands on set of American Idol. Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images
Iam Tongi is the stage name of William Tongi, who moved judges to tears at Season 21 of American Idol this year. In May, he became the first person from Hawaii, and the first Pacific Islander, to clinch the title.
Pronunciation: Ee-am Dong-ee
Psammophile
Dev Shah, 14 , became the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in June. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images
A word to describe plants that love sandy soil may be difficult to pronounce, but it certainly wasn’t a spelling challenge for 14-year-old Dev Shah, who clinched the National Spelling Bee with it in June.
Pronunciation: Sam-uh-file
Vivek Ramaswamy
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Win McNamee/Getty Images
In November, the entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate rebuked political strategist Donna Brazile for mispronouncing his name on Real Time with Bill Maher, saying she “intentionally” did it.
Intentionally or habitually mispronouncing names has been described as a form of discrimination.
Pronunciation: Vih-vake Rah-mah-swah-me
Choupette
Jared Leto in his Choupette costume at the Met Gala on May 1, 2023. Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images
Celebrities rushed to pay tribute to Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, at the Met Gala in May, with Jared Leto simply getting into a massive white cat costume and sending other guests wild. Doja Cat and Lil Nas X also channeled feline vibes.
Pronunciation: Shoo-pet
Kīlauea
Lava shooting out of a fissure on Kīlauea. Mario Tama / Getty Images
The second volcano to bubble its way onto the list, Kīlauea, went quiet for three months and then exploded impressively in June. Thankfully, no communities were at risk.
Pronunciation: Kil-uh-way-uh
There were also some runners-up:
Wambsgans
Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans on season four, episode six of “Succession.” Claudette Barius/HBO
Among all the fan theories surrounding the much-anticipated series finale of “Succession” in May, probably the wildest was one based around Tom Wambsgans’ name, as Slate went into in great detail (there are spoilers here, for anyone still catching up).
Thankfully, we have Shiv Roy’s classic quote: “Guess I just got Wambsgansed, huh?” from Season 1, to help cement the pronunciation.
Pronunciation: Woms-gans
Stone of Scone
The Stone of Scone is displayed in Scotland in June. Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP
Since the dawn of the English language, British people have fought bitterly over how to pronounce the word “scone.” Homes have been wrecked, and families divided.
When King Charles III was crowned in May, he sat on the Stone of Scone as per tradition. It made matters even more complicated by offering a rare third variation to the pronunciation debate.
Pronunciation: Stown uhv skoon
Nepo Baby
A rare tribute to the nepo baby appears in east London, May 2023. Mike Kemp/Getty Images
As 2022 drew to a close, one term was on people’s lips: nepo baby.
It had been around for a while, but a much talked-about New Yorker cover story declared 2022 as “the year of the nepo baby,” causing frantic online discussion about the leg-up that famous offspring get from their famous parents.
Unfortunately, few knew how to say it, making early 2023 the age of mispronouncing nepo baby.
Pronunciation: Neh-po Bay-bee
Correction: December 11, 2023 — An earlier version of this story gave the wrong regnal number for Britain’s King Charles. He is Charles III, not Charles II.
