Nothing brings on a red face like that moment when, despite your best efforts to mumble, you say a brand name to said brand’s PR manager/distributor/founder/[insert other important person here], only to have them correct you on the pronunciation.
You know the brands I’m talking about – L’Occitane, Narciso Rodriguez, Guinot, Sisley Paris, Natio – we’ve all had a linguistic battle with one of them at some point.
We’ve had so many mispronunciations for our brands it’s hard to count,” admits Kate Gildea, PR manager for Cosmax. Narciso Rodriguez trips people up all the time. I’m not sure why but people love to pronounce it with an extra ‘K’. They say ‘Nar-siss-ko’, but there is no ‘k’ in there – it’s simply pronounced ‘Nar-siss-oh’.”
Another brand Gildea says provides a constant source of struggle for people is Issey Miyake. It is pronounced phonetically as ‘Iss-say Mee-ya-kee’, and his most popular fragrance L’eau d’Issey is pronounced ‘Low Diss-say’,” she explains.
Lesley Bowen, PR and communication manager for L’Occitane Australia agrees. We have so much trouble with the pronunciation of L’Occitane. ‘Lox-ee-tan’ is how we try and guide people.” L’Occitane isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself in this area, though, with the brand going so far as to create a very humorous video on how to say the name correctly.
Serena Mackinnon, public relations manager for Natio and Aum says both brand names are a source of confusion for industry pros and consumers alike. It is not uncommon for consumers to write in to us asking how to pronounce the names.” For the record it’s nay-tee-oh” and om” respectively.
And it’s not just the pronunciation of brands that spark debate in editorial offices around the country – it’s the spelling too. Just ask any sub-editor and they’ll tell you a tale of fact-checking woe about the brand Bulgari. When BVLGARI is written in capitals, the ‘U’ is written in the ancient Roman way as ‘V’, and this confuses many people as they think it has to be pronounced as ‘V’,” Gildea explains. When the brand is written in lower case, it reverts to a modern ‘u’, as in ‘Bulgari’. It is super confusing for journalists and that is probably our number-one correction when checking captions.”
Here at bd, we know how much you love our impartial assistance on matters like these, so we’ve taken the time to compile a list of phonetic spellings of commonly mispronounced brand names.
To help you out a bit, here are a couple of tips on understanding our explanations:
1. When we use jz”, we’re referring to the sound you make when you say jzhooj”, as in Carson Kressley’s favourite verb.
2. A hard G” means the sound made when you say goat”.
(a-kin)
(ah-pree)
(ah-huh-va)
Agent Provocateur (ah-jzon prov-ock-a-ter)
(al-kem-ee)
Alexami (a-lex-a-me)
Alina (a-lee-na)
Andalou Naturals (ahn-da-loo)
Anna Sui (anna swee)
Aum (om)
Avado (av-ah-doh)
(badge-lee mish-ka)
(bal-en-see-ah-ga)
(bat-eest)
Be Genki (gen-key, said with a hard ‘G’)
(blom-darl)
(blue strah-toss)
Boiron (bwar-on)
Botani (bot-ah-nee)
(bor-jzwah)
(bull-gar-ree, with an emphasis on the first syllable)
DMK (d-nay mont-a-gu king)
(deck-lee-or)
(doctor howsh-ka)
(elle-ess)
ELIE SAAB (elly saab)
emerginC (pronounced like emergency”)
Eylure (eye-lure)
Gaia Skin Naturals (guy-a)
(gat-in-oh, with a hard G”)
Guinot (gee-no, with a hard ‘G”)
Ilcsi (il-chee)
Illamasqua (illa-mask-a)
(in-ee-ka)
Issey Miyake (iss-say mee-ya-kee)
Kérastase Paris (kera-stass, rhymes with "glass")
Klorane (klor-ran)
Lancome (lon-com)
L’Occitane (lox-ee-tan)
L'Oréal Professionnel (lor-e-elle pro-fesh-on-elle)
La Biosthetique (la bee-os-thet-eek)
(la mare, rhymes with "stare")
Lapureté (la-pure-et-ay)
(mont blonc)
(mon-tan-a jzer-ness)
Narciso Rodriguez (nar-siss-oh)
Natio (nay-tee-oh)
OPI (oh-pee-eye)
Payot (pay-oh)
(is said 99 rock-a-wear)
Phytomer (feet-oh-mare)
Phyt's Certified Organic Professional Skincare (pronounced "fits")
(pree-or-ee)
(pronounced "sholl", rhymes with "doll")
(she-say-doh)
Sisley Paris (sis-lay)
Skeyndor (skayn-door)
Sodashi (so-dash-ee)
Sophyto (so-fee-toe)
Sothys (so-tees)
Strega Estetica (stray-ga ess-stet-i-ka)
(soo-kin)
Sundari (soon-dar-ee)
(thow-go, the first syllable rhymes with "now")
(the hoh-hoh-ba company)
Uandi Natural (yoo-ann-dee)
Weleda (well-ay-dah)
What do you think is the hardest beauty brand to pronounce? Are there any we’ve left off? Leave them below anonymously and we’ll look into it for you!