I’ve heard them all.
“Noo-yen”
“Nuh-guy-en”
“Noo-gent”
“Nuh-goo-en”
Growing up, I’ve had the distinct fortune of having heard a couple dozen different pronunciations for my last name.
In school, my teachers would go down the attendance list and stop at my name.
“Joseph N...”
“Joseph Nuh-ju-jen?”
Oh, how I’ve enjoyed hearing people butcher my surname by adding random sounds to it.
I had no idea that a six-letter word could have seven syllables.
Quick lesson: it’s one syllable.
I’ve tried to teach people to pronounce it correctly. I think my formula’s pretty easy to understand:
• Take the “ng” sound of the word “sing.”
• Add “win” to it.
• Say it like it’s one syllable: “Ng-win”
And if you want an authentic Vietnamese sound, add a question mark at the end.
Alas, my attempts are usually futile. For every person I teach to say it properly, about 20 others furrow their brows in a vain attempt to understand the situation.
(My apologies to Mr. Groening and his writers)
Still, part of me wants to continue my efforts to educate folks in hopes that they’ll be able to correctly say the 57th-most-common surname in the U.S. It’s not like we’re invisible. I mean, we’re clearly littered across the world of professional poker — Scotty Nguyen is easily the most entertaining card player today.
But the mainstream media has decided that the anglicized version of “win” is the proper pronunciation.
I know it’s not quite right, but it’s close — and only has one syllable.
Maybe that’s just easier. I mean, Joe “win” sounds much better than Joe “nuh-guy-yo-yen.”
Now if only I can stop people from calling me “John.”
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