List of shibboleth names
by which the privileged judge their inferiors
A
Abbe Suger (French pronunciation: syoo-zheh, British: soo-gehr)
Chinua Achebe (chin-oo-ah ah-chay-bae)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (chim-ah-man-da nnnn-go-zeh ah-dee-che)
James Agee (a-jee)
Anna Akhmatova (onna ock-mah-taugh-vah)
Louis Althusser (lou-wee al-too-sair)
Jerzy Andrzejewski (yer-zhay ahn-zhay-ev-ski)
Roger Angell (angel)
Jean Anouilh (~ahn’oo-ee)
Diane Arbus (dee-ann)
Hannah Arendt (hahn-ah ahr-ent)
Martha Argerich (mar-tah herr-each)
Eugène Atget (oo-zhenne at-zhey)
Augustine of Hippo (aw-gus-tin)
Autechre (aw-tekk-er)
Richard Ayoade (eye-oh-wah-dee)
B
Angelo Badalamenti (bottle-ah-menti)
Walter Bagehot (badget)
Balliol College (bay-lee-uhl)
Donald/Frederick Barthelme (barth-uhl-me)
Karl Barth (bart)
Roland Barthes (bart)
Tom Beauchamp (beachum)
Walter Benjamin (ben-yameen)
John Berger (berdger)
Bishop Berkeley (barkley)
Hans Bethe (beta)
John Betjeman (betch-uh-mun)
Joseph Beuys (boyz)
Hieronymus Bosch (Flemish pronunciation: heer-rone-nee-mohse boss)
Tadeusz Borowski (tah-de-yoosh borr-off-ski)
Anthony Boucher (rhymes with voucher)
Tycho Brahe (Danish pronunciation: too-ghoh brahhh)
Marcel Breuer (broy-er)
Broad Art Museum (brode)
Hermann Broch (~hair-monn brohhh)
Burgundy Street, New Orleans (burr-gun-dee)
Steve Buscemi (boo-semm-ee)
Bowdoin College (boh-din)
C
Gonville and Caius College (keys)
Menzies Campbell (ming-iss)
Thomas Carew (carey)
Vija Celmins (vee-yah tell-midge)
Michael Chabon (shay-bonn)
Jan Czochralski (yann choh-h’ral-ski)
J.C. Chandor (shann-door)
Dan Chaon (shawn)
Chyron (kai-rawn or kai-run)
Cimabue (chee-ma-boo-ee)
Karel Čapek (kah-rell chap-eck)
Michael Cimino (chee-me-noh)
Emil Cioran (chore-ahn)
Ta-Nehisi Coates (tah-nuh-hah-see)
Alexander/Andrew/Patrick Cockburn (coburn)
Paulo Coelho (~pow-lu kuh-whey.l-you.)1
J.M. Coetzee (koot-see)
Robert Campin (com-pin)
William Cowper (cooper)
Cré na Cille, Máirtín Ó Cadhain book (~kreh neh kill-eh)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (me-high cheek-sent-me-high)
Countee Cullen (cown-tay)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie (skwoh-doaf-ska)
Alfonso/Jonás/Carlo Cuarón (al-fone-so/ho-nas kwah-roan)
Holger Czukay (hole-gerr shoe-kai)
D
Gerard David (Flemish pronunciation: ~hhheer-ahrd dahh-fidd)
The Dalles, Oregon (the dolls)
Guy Debord (ghee du-borrh)
Louis De Broglie (duh broy)
Giorgio De Chirico (Italian pronunciation: ~dee kee-ree-koh)
Richard Dedekind (between day-dah-kin and day-dah-kint)
Wilhelm Dilthey (dill-tai)
Alfred Döblin (deu-bleen)
Don Juan, Byron character (jew-un)
Gerrit/Gerard Dou (dow)
W.E.B. DuBois (duh-boyz)
Andre Dubus (duh-byoose)
E
Chiwetel Ejiofor (choo-we-tell edge-ee-oh-for)
Cary Elwes (ell-wiss)
Paul Erdős (~pal ehr-deush)
John Scotus Eriugena (era-jee-nah)
Leonhard Euler (oiler)
F
Nuruddin Farah (Somali pronunciation: ~nour-oo-deen farr-ah)
Colm Feore (column fury)
Ferdydurke (fair-deh-dure-kuh)
Paul Feyerabend (fire-ah-bent)
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (feesh-tuh)3
Ralph/Ranulph/Sophie/Joseph/Magnus/Martha Fiennes (rayf finezzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Gustave Flaubert (flow-bear)
William Foege (fay-ghee)
Lee Fang (fong)
Michel Foucault (~foo-coh)
Gottlob Frege (got-lobe free-geh)
James Frey (fry)
Fritiof Fryxell (freet-joff frix-ell)
G
Gallaudet University (gal-uh-debt)
Mary Gauthier (goh-shay)
George Gamow (gamm-awve)
Clifford Geertz (gurtz)
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss pronunciation: yah-coh-mett-ee)2
André Gide (zheed)
Giotto (jhott-oh)
H.R. Giger (ghee-guh)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (~ger-tuh)
Nikolai Gogol (goggle)
Witold Gombrowicz (vee-told gomm-broh-vitch)
Jan Gossaert (~yann ho-sight) aka ‘Mabuse’ (mah-buu-zuh)
Philip Gourevitch (guh-ray-vitch)
Antonio Gramsci (gromm-she)
Matt Groening (graining)
Alexander Grothendieck (groat-enn-deek)
David Guetta (gay-tah)
H
Vaclav Havel (vott-slav hah-vell)
Michael Haneke (hanukkah)
Margaret H’Doubler (dough-blur)
Seamus Heaney (shay-muss hee-knee)
Aleksandar Hemon (between heh-monn and heh-mown)
Heorot (hay-uh-rot)
Zbigniew Herbert (z’beeg-nyeff herr-behrt)
John Hersey (hearse-ey)
Hesiod (he-see-uhd)
Hermann Hesse (~hair-monn heh-seh)
Guy Hocquenghem (ghee ock-en-g’yem)
homo sacer, Agamben concept (Italian pronunciation: oh-moh satch-air)
Houston Street, Manhattan (house-ton)
Joris-Karl Huysmans (zhour-ris karl weese-moss)4
Bohumil Hrabal (boh-who-meal h’rah-ball)
Alfred Hrdlička (German pronunciation: ~hairt-litch-kah)
I
Iceni (aye-kay-nee)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (angh)
Eugène Ionesco (Romanian pronunciation: ~yoh-ness-koh)
Luce Irigaray (loose ear-ee-garr-eh)
J
Roman Jakobson (jacob-son)
Jacques, Shakespeare character (jay-kwiss)
Erica Jong (zhong)
Seu Jorge (~sewe zhawzhe)1
Carl Jung (yoong)
K
Frigyes Karinthy (free-gesh car-inn-tee)
Keble College (keeble)
Kelis Rogers (kuh-leece)
Imre Kertész (imm-reh kare-tace)
John Maynard Keynes (kanes)
Omar Khayyam (high-yahm)
Krzysztof Kieślowski (krish-toff keesh-loff-skee)
Q'orianka/Xihuaru Kilcher (core-i-an-ka/see-wahr-oo)
Danilo Kiš (dann-eel-oh keesh)
Paul Klee (powell clay)
Stephen Cole Kleene (cleany)
Phil Klay (kligh)
Karl Ove Knausgård (Norwegian pronunciation: ~kahl oo-veh kuh-nauss-gahd)
Zoltán Kodály (zohwl-tahn koh-die)
Sarah Koenig (kay-nig)
Alexandre Kojève (koh-zhevv)
Jiří Kolář (year-ee collage)
Tadeusz Konwicki (tah-de-yoosh konn-vitz-ski)
Jerzy Kosiński (yer-zhay koh-shin-ski)
Alexandre Koyré (kwah-ray)
Saul Kripke (crip-key)
Thomas Kuhn (coon)
Milan Kundera (Czech pronunciation: mill-ahn koon-der-uh)
L
Carl Laemmle (lemm-lee)
Dorothea Lange (lang)
Henri Lefebvre (luh-fevv-ruh)
Stanisław Lem (stan-ni-swaf lemm)
Jonathan Lethem (leeth-um)
Jared Leto (let -oh)
Primo Levi (leh-vee)
Marina Lewycka (leh-vitz-kah)
Sophus Lie / Lie Algebra (lee)
Mario Vargas Llosa (yoh-sah)
Peter Lorre (laura)
John Lukacs (Hungarian pronunciation: loo-katch but Americanized to lucas)
Jan Łukasiewicz (yann wu-kah-shey-vitch)
M
Magdalen College, Oxford/Cambridge (mawd-lin)
Mannes College of Music (mannis)
Quentin Matsys/Quinten Matsijs (Flemish pronunciation: kvinn-tin mott-sayse)
Somerset Maugham (mawm)
Kazimir Malevich (may-lay-vich)
Thomas Mann (toe-mahs mahn)
Don Marquis (mar-kwiss)
Olivier Messiaen (oh-leev-yay meh-syonh)
Joel Meyerowitz (my-yer-uh-wits)
John Michell (mitchell)
Czesław Miłosz (chess-waff me-woahsh)
Joan Miró (zhwamn me-roh)
László Moholy-Nagy (~lass-low moh-holy noidge-eh)
Robert Moog (mogue)
George Mosse (mossy)
Sławomir Mrożek (swah-voh-meer m’roh-zhek)
Ron Mueck (myoo-ick)
Harry Mulisch (mool-ish)
Edvard Munch (ed-vart moonk)
Robert Musil (moo-zeal/moo-seal)
Eadweard Muybridge (edward my-bridge)
N
Nacogdoches, Texas (nack-uh-dough-chis)
Natchitoches, Louisiana (nack-uh-tush)
Otto Neurath (noi-raht)
Bill Nighy (nye)
Anaïs Nin (ah-nayh-ees ninn)
Emmy Noether (neur-tuh)
Cees Nooteboom (sayze note-uh-bome)
Lupita Nyong'o (~nnnnn yong-oh)
O
Obergefell v. Hodges (oh-burr-geh-fell)
Máirtín Ó Cadhain (marr-teen oh kai-un)
Adepero Oduye (add-uh-pair-oh oh-doo-yay)
Jenny Offill (oh-full)
Claes Oldenburg (kloss)
Michael Ondaatje (awn-datch-ee)
The River Ouse (ooze)
David Oyelowo (oh-yell-uh-whoah)
P
Chuck Palahniuk (paul-uh-nik)
Octavio Paz (Mexican Spanish: pahss)
Wolfgang Pauli (pow-lee)
Charles Sanders Peirce (purse)
Krzysztof Penderecki (creesh-toff pen-duh-ret-ski)
Samuel Pepys (peeps)
Jodi Picoult (pee-coe)
Max Planck (plonk)
Plotinus (ploh-tine-us)
Anthony Powell (po-uhl)
John Cowper Powys (cooper poh-iss)
Principia Mathematica (prin-kipp-ee-yah)
Annie Proulx (proo)
Marcel Proust (proost)
Joseph Pulitzer (puh-litz-ur)
Q
Qatar (cutter/gutter)5
Quinnipiac University (kwinn-uh-pea-ack)
R
Ayn Rand (well-fare recipient)
Sławomir Rawicz (swah-voh-meer rahh-vitch)
Satyajit Ray (Bengali pronunciation: ~shut-uh-jeet rye)
Steve Reich (raish)
Tom Regan (ray-gun)
ricercar (Italian pronunciation: ~reach-ur-car)
Rainer Maria Rilke (rhine-er mahr-ee-a reel-kuh)
Nicolas Roeg (rogue)
Theodore Roethke (ret-key)
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen/Roentgen (vill-helm rhont-gn)
Klaus Roth (roath)
Mary Ruefle (roo-full)
Ed Ruscha (roo-shay)
S
Edward Said (sigh-eed)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (sanh-eks-oo-pear-ee)
Luc Sante (sahnt)
Leonardo Sciascia (shah-shah)
Schlumberger (slumber-zhay)
Bruno Schulz (schooltz)
Martin Scorsese (score-sess-ee)
Henry Scrope, Shakespeare character (scroop)
W.G. Sebald (zay-bald)
Chloë Sevigny (sevv-un-ee)
Choire Sicha (corey seeka)
Charles Simić (Serbian pronunciation: simm-itch, but often called simmick)
Victor Sjöström (Swedish pronunciation: veek-torr hhhwhere-strome)
Theda Skocpol (scotch-pole)
Josef Škvorecký (yoh-zeff shkvore-etz-ski)
William Smellie (smiley)
Todd Solondz (suh-lawnz)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (saul-zhuh-neat-sin)
Léon Spilliaert (Dutch pronunciation: lay-on spilly-art)
Strange, barony (strang)
Edward Steichen (shtike-inn)
William Stukeley (stoo-key)
Larissa Szporluk - (shpoor-luck)
Wisława Szymborska (vee-swa-va shim-bor-ska)
T
Gay Talese (tuh-leeze)
Chief Justice Roger Taney (tawny)
Nahum Tate (neigh-m)
Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans (chop-uh-too-luss)
Wayne Thiebaud (tee-bo)
Uwe Timm (ooh-veh)
Tzvetan Todorov (tsveh-tahn toh-duh-roff)
Colm Tóibín (~column toh-been)
Trendelenburg position (trenn-dell-in-berg)
Ernst Troeltsch (trolch)
Edward Tufte (tuff-tee)
Tulane University (too-lane)
Ivan Turgenev (yvonne turr-gain-yevv)
George W. S. Trow (like ’grow’)
V
Michel Houllebecq (he doesn’t care)
Ludvík Vaculík (lood-veek vatz-oo-leek)
Joos van Cleve (yohss fon clay-vuh)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (meez fonn der roh-uh)
Rogier van der Weyden (~ro-kheer fon dur vay-dun)
Arnoldus Vanderhorst, ultimate namesake of Luther (vandross)
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch pronunciation: ~finch-ant fan hawh)
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (ahn-toe-nee fon lay-when-hook)
Rembrandt van Rijn (remm-brondt fon rain)
Townes van Zandt (towns)
Johannes Vermeer (yo-hann-iss furr-meer)
Jones Very (jonas veery)
Vladimir Voinovich (vlah-dee-meer voy-noh-vitch)
Ludwig von Mises (fonn meez-ess)
Jakob von Uexküll (jah-cubb fon ooks-kool)
Georg Henrik von Wright (fon vrikt)
W
Ayelet Waldman (eye-yell-it)
Quvenzhané Wallis (kwuh-ven-zhuh-nay)
Robert Walser (valzer)
Jean-Antoine Watteau (French pronunciation: ~vah-teau)
Evelyn St. John Waugh (eve-linn sin-jun wahh)
Max Weber (veigh-burr)
Simone Weil (zee-moan veigh)
Elie Wiesel (eel-ee vee-zell)
Garry Winogrand (win-uh-grand)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (vitt-genn-shtein)
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (wood-house)
David Wojnarowicz (voy-nah-roh-vitch)
William Hyde Wollaston (wool-uh-stun)
Hermann Wouk (woke)
Woyzeck, Büchner play (voight-zikk)
Joseph Wright of Derby (right of dahr-bee)
Y
William Butler Yeats (yates)
Yerkes Observatory (yer-keys)
Yoknapatawpha County, Faulkner setting (yolk-nuh-pah-taw-fa)
Z
Robert Zajonc (zai-unts)
Slavoj Žižek (slah-voi zhee-zhek)
Andrzej Żuławski (ahn-drey zhu-wavv-ski)
1 Portuguese has a much more complicated phonetics than English & so these are especially approximate.
2 Because Giacometti was from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland a kind of second order snobbishness has descended on the pronunciation of his name. Most people who would judge you pronounce it as you would in Italian (jah-coh-mett-ee) but an inner-inner circle insist on correcting even these people with the Swiss-Italian pronunciation listed here.
3 The pronunciation of the -ch as soft instead of hard, unlike every other instance in German, was contrived after the philosopher’s death to avoid a near-homophony with that language’s word for ‘fuck.’
4 The last syllable doesn’t have an English equivalent but rhymes with the French pronunciation of Jean’s.
5 The first letter (qaf/qof/ق) has no equivalent in English or any other Western language and is more glottal than either of the sounds starting these approximations.
More? Better phonetic versions?
