29 celebrity names you might be mispronouncing
- Many famous people have names which are notoriously mispronounced by fans.
- For example, JK Rowling's last name rhymes with "bowling." It's not pronounced "r-OW-ling."
- Ariana Grande also said her family name is technically said "GRAN-dee."
- Keep reading to see which other stars have had to correct their names for the public record.
- Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.
Celebrities aren't immune to mispronounced names, even if most of us have heard them correctly at one point or another. Some names might be more difficult because of the accent on the letters, while others have some silent letters that could throw you off.
Keep reading for a helpful guide to saying those celebrity names right.
Anjelica Oswald contributed to a previous version of this article.
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Ariana Grande grew up saying her last name differently.
She said on Beats One that her brother Frankie changed the pronunciation from how her grandfather said it, and it stuck.
Instead of "Grawn-DAY," they said "Gran-DEE."
Hear her say it during an interview with Beats One.
"Stranger Things" star Dacre Montgomery is the show's only Australian cast member.
His character Billy Hargrove was introduced for the second season of Netflix's hit series.
Read more: How old the stars of 'Stranger Things' are compared to their teenaged characters
His name is pronounced just like the unit of measurement, "acre," but with a "D" at the front.
Montgomery explained how to properly say him name in a GQ interview: "So Dacre is just acre, like five acres to the next farm."
JK Rowling never seems to take a break from writing and helping with film adaptations of her best-selling books.
Right now Rowling is working on the "Fantastic Beasts" spinoff movie series.
Her name isn't "r-OW-ling," it's pronounced "ROLL-ing." But she answers to both, since many people in the US still put emphasis on the "ow."
She told the Guardian how it should be said.
Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman.
But despite breaking records, people still get her name wrong.
But when you say her name, make sure to pronounce the "t," like "Guh-DOT."
She told Jimmy Kimmel how to say it right.
Rihanna is a music goddess, but many still say her name wrong.
Rihanna created Fenty Beauty, and it's a hit.
While many of us might say "Ri-YAWN-a," she says it's "Ri-ANNA."
She explained how to say it on "Showbiz Tonight."
Ralph Fiennes is known for his role as the "Harry Potter" villain Voldemort, but his real name is a bit tricky.
People have been mispronouncing his name for decades.
It's pronounced like "RAY-ph Fines."
You can hear him talk about his name at the 4:40 mark of this "CBS This Morning" video.
Thandie Newton is the breakout star of HBO's "Westworld."
Newton also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Crash."
The "Th" is actually a hard "t" sound in her first name, so you should say, "TAN-dee."
Stephen Colbert says it correctly.
Matt Czuchry is known for his role as Logan on "Gilmore Girls."
The "Gilmore Girls" cast has changed quite a bit in 10 years.
The "c" is silent, so it's pronounced "ZOO-krie."
Hear it during this Wall Street Journal interview.
Zendaya is making waves in Hollywood.
She is on her way to Hollywood domination.
Read more: How Zendaya went from Disney superstar to blockbuster darling
Her name is pronounced "Zen-DAY-uh," not "Zen-DIE-uh."
The viral "Zendaya is Meechee" video will help you remember.
Josh Duhamel is well-known for his role in the "Transformers" movies.
The latest "Transformers" movie was panned.
Ignore the "a" when saying "DOO-mel."
Jimmy Fallon gets it right.
Charlize Theron killed it in "Atomic Blonde."
She went through a wild amount of training for the movie.
So when you say her name, make sure you say it the right way: "Their-IN," not "Their-own."
Hear her explain it on "The Tonight Show" here.
Chiwetel Ejiofor fought alongside Doctor Strange in the superhero movie about the titular character.
He voices Scar in the new remake of "The Lion King."
Read more: How 18 key moments in the 'Lion King' remake compare to the original movie
His name is pronounced "CHEW-eh-tel Eh-gee-oh-for."
He spoke about it for Vanity Fair.
Marion Cotillard is well-known for "Inception."
She won an Oscar for "La Vie en Rose."
The l's in the French actress's name are silent. You say it "Mary-ON Coat-EE-ard."
Colbert nails it again.
Mahershala Ali has proven his skills in projects including "House of Cards," "Luke Cage," "Moonlight," and "Hidden Figures."
Ali has won best supporting actor at the Oscars twice, for "Moonlight" and "Green Book."
His full name is Mahershalalhashbaz, but his shortened name is pronounced "Ma-HER-shuh-luh."
You can hear him say his full name at the 30-second mark of this ConnTV interview.
Saoirse Ronan earned her third Oscar nomination for her lead role in "Lady Bird."
She sometimes struggles with people's names too.
Read more: Watch 'Lady Bird' star Saoirse Ronan struggle to pronounce other tough celebrity names
Ignore the vowels and say "SUR-sha," like inertia.
Hear her explain on "The Late Late Show."
Alden Ehrenreich is the young Han Solo in the "Solo" movie.
He had to live up to Harrison Ford.
His last name is "AARON-rike."
He explained it on KiddNation.
Cara Delevingne was in 2017's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets."
Delevingne's next project is the Amazon original series "Carnival Row."
Here's how you say it: "CAR-uh Dell-uh-VEEN."
You can hear it in this Wired video.
Quvenzhané Wallis was five when she auditioned for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."
She earned an Oscar nomination for her role.
This is how you say her name: "Qwuh-ven-JUH-neigh."
Here's Wallis explaining how to say it.
Milo Ventimiglia is known for his roles in "Heroes," "Gilmore Girls," and currently, "This Is Us."
Fans finally learned how he died on "This Is Us."
Don't say the "g" in his name. It's "Vent-ih-ME-lee-uh."
The "Today" show hosts nailed it.
Domhnall Gleeson has starred in quite a number of hit movies, including the "Harry Potter" franchise, "Ex Machina," and "Brooklyn."
Now he's most recognizable in the "Star Wars" universe as General Hux.
His first name is pronounced "DOUGH-null," like tonal.
Gleeson told Entertainment Weekly how to say it.
Daniel Kaluuya earned an Oscar nomination for "Get Out."
He was also in "Black Panther."
Say his last name like "Kuh-LOO-yuh."
Stephen Colbert says it correctly.
Tiffany Haddish was hilarious in "Girls Trip."
Her career in movies and stand-up is thriving.
Her last name is pronounced "HAD-ish," like radish.
Hear her say it during her "Saturday Night Live" promos.
Between "Lady Bird" and "Call Me by Your Name," Timothée Chalamet has been everywhere recently, but we've been saying his name wrong.
He is one of the youngest nominees to ever receive the honor.
Read more: The 31 youngest Oscar nominees of all time
In an interview with Frank Ocean, he said his name is actually pronounced "Timo-TAY" not "Timo-TEE." Also, his last name is "Sha-luh-MAY."
"The real pronunciation is Timo-tay, but I can't ask people to call me that; it just seems really pretentious," he told Ocean.
Steven Yeun played Glenn on "The Walking Dead."
He recently starred in "Sorry To Bother You" and "Burning."
His last name is pronounced "YUN," like sun.
Hear him say it during an interview with Wired.
Noah Centineo is everywhere thanks to "To All the Boys I've Loved Before."
His character Peter is a hit.
His name is pronounced "Cen-tin-A-oh," not "Cen-ten-KNEE-o."
Demi Moore has been acting since the 80s.
She was recently on "Empire."
Her name is pronounced "Deh-MEE," not like Demi ("DEM-ee") Lovato says hers.
Hear her say it during her roast of ex-husband Bruce Willis here.
Anna Faris is known for her comedic roles.
She stars on the TV series "Mom."
Her first name is pronounced "AWE-nuh," like Donna.
She told Time Out that it's "annoying" for her.
"I'm always afraid that people are thinking that I'm a little pretentious when I say my name," she said.
Chrissy Teigen recently let fans know that people have been saying her name wrong.
Her name isn't pronounced "TEE-gen," it's "TIE-gen."
She said she "gave up a long time ago."
Comedian Hasan Minhaj says people get his name wrong all the time.
Minhaj's breakout career moment happened when he hosted the 2017 White House Correspondents' dinner because nobody else would.
His name is pronounced like "Hassen Min-haj," without the extra emphasis on "Hah-sahn" or "Min-AH-j" the way most people mistakenly say it.
"When I first started doing comedy people were like, 'You should change your name,'" Minhaj told Ellen Degeneres. "And I'm like, 'I'm not gonna change my name. If you can pronounce Ansel Elgort, you can pronounce Hasan Minhaj.'"