As Hollywood stars they’re used to being described as ‘household names’.
Yet ironically, many of the celebrities we know have been going by the wrong monikers in the public eye.
For years, these stars have been mispronounced – even though they’ve revealed time and time again how they should be referred to.
Earlier this week, Noomi Rapace explained exactly how you pronounce her name and the origin behind it.
So how many Hollywood stars have you been mispronouncing? Read on to find out 15 celebrities who have spent years being called the wrong name.
1. Noomi Rapace (Noomi Rupp-Ass)
Earlier this week, Noomi Rapace explained exactly how you pronounce her name and the origin behind it
Noomi, née Norén, previously revealed that she and Swedish actor Ola Rapace, né Pär Ola Norell, created the surname when they married in 2012
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace soared to fame with her breakout role in 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Yet after more than a decade in the public eye, she revealed people were still struggling with her unusual moniker, clairifying to The Times this week it is pronounced as ‘rupp-ass’ and not the commonly said ‘rap-pace’.
Noomi, née Norén, previously revealed that she and Swedish actor Ola Rapace, né Pär Ola Norell, created the surname when they married in 2012.
On why they decided on Rapace, which means ‘bird of prey’ in French and Italian, she told The Guardian: ‘I’m very spontaneous.
‘I don’t overthink stuff: ‘Let’s go! Let’s do it.’ And there was something in me that very strongly connected with the name.
‘But my son said once, when we just moved to London, he was eating breakfast, and I was shooting Sherlock Holmes with Guy Ritchie, and getting ready, running my lines as Simza, my fortune-teller character, and he looked up at me and was like:
”Mummy, do you know I’m the first-born Rapace in the world?’ So yeah, I think I picked pretty well.’
2. Lindsay Lohan (Lindsay Lo-Wen)
For her TikTok debut in 2022, Lindsay Lohan left fans stunned when she highlighted the way her last name is pronounced (pictured at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscars party)
For her TikTok debut in 2022, Lindsay Lohan left fans stunned when she highlighted the way her last name is pronounced.
‘Hey everyone. It’s Lindsay Lohan, and guess what? Now I’m on TikTok,’ she said in the five-second video.
Lindsay unwittingly corrected fans by saying her last name is pronounced ‘Lo-wen’ instead of ‘Lo-han.’
The brief video showed the Mean Girls star standing outside, wearing a white sweater and diamond earrings, making a smiling proclamation.
The Parent Trap star’s simple video caused a flurry of comments as one fan wrote: ‘Wait. Lindsay, “LOWEN”?!?! I’ve been saying it wrong my whole life?!?”’
3. Jake Gyllenhaal (Jake Yee-Len-Hey-Lo)
Jake Gyllenhaal has been a name on people’s lips since he was a young actor but the universal pronunciation couldn’t be more inaccurate
Fans of both Jake and his sister Maggie usually say ‘Jill-en-hall’ but the actor opened up about the unexpected why his Swedish last name should be said
Jake Gyllenhaal has been a name on people’s lips since he was a young actor but the universal pronunciation couldn’t be more inaccurate.
Fans of both Jake and his sister Maggie usually say ‘Jill-en-hall’ but the actor opened up about the unexpected why his Swedish last name should be said.
In an TV interview with Conan O’Brien, he joked that ‘only two places that that is pronounced correctly, my last name, is in Sweden and in Ikea.’
The correct way to say his name is ‘Yen-len-hey-lo’.
Elder sibling Maggie has not weighed in on how she pronounces her name.
4. Martin Scorsese (Martin Scor-Sess-See)
Many fans of legendary director Martin Scorsese have been saying his name wrong for years
Many fans of legendary director Martin Scorsese have been saying his name wrong for years.
Indeed, the popular way to pronounce the name is ‘Scor-say-zee’.
However, he confirmed that it should be ‘Scor-sess-see’ in the fifth series of Entourage.
5. Adele (Uh-Dale)
Adele confessed that most of her fans have been saying her name wrong in a 2022 interview
Adele confessed that most of her fans have been saying her name wrong in a 2022 interview.
Speaking during Happy Hour with Adele with Benito Skinner after her I Drink Wine music video was released, one fan asked her about writing 30 and her journey to self-love.
The fan, talking on a video, happened to nail the pronunciation of her name in the process, leaving Adele, 34, impressed.
Referring to an area near where she was born she said: ‘Where’s she from, Enfield? She said my name perfectly!’
The mother-of-one then said that she prefers people to call her ‘uh-dale’ instead of ‘uh-dell’, staying true to her North London roots and accent.
6. Zendaya (Zen-Day-Yuh)
Zendaya Coleman is one of the few younger stars who have been able to drop the surname and only be addressed by a mononym
Zendaya Coleman is one of the few younger stars who have been able to drop the surname and only be addressed by a mononym.
Yet fans are often torn with two ways of pronouncing her name.
In a 2017 YouTube video, the Euphoria actress revealed that her name is commonly mispronounced as ‘Zen-dye-uh’.
However, the correct way to say her name is ‘Zen-day-yuh’.
7. Timothée Chalamet (Timo-Tay Shala-May)
Zendaya’s Dune co-star Timothée Chalamet also has trouble with people pronouncing his name, but in this case the American-French actor doesn’t mind
Zendaya’s Dune co-star Timothée Chalamet also has trouble with people pronouncing his name, but in this case the American-French actor doesn’t mind.
In fact, The Call By Your Name star actively doesn’t want his fans to call him by his actual name, which is pronounced ‘Timo-tay Shala-may’ instead of the commonly said ‘Timo-fay Shala-may’.
Speaking in a 2018 interview with Frank Ocean, the 28-year-old heartthrob revealed the real pronunciation of his name but said: ‘I can’t ask people to call me that!
‘It just seems really pretentious.’
8. Amanda Seyfried (Amanda Sigh-Frid)
Ever since finding fame in Mean Girls, Amanda Seyfried’s name has been pronounced in a variety of ways
Ever since finding fame in Mean Girls, Amanda Seyfried’s name has been pronounced in a variety of ways.
While ‘Say-freed’ and ‘Sea-fred’ are two of the more common options, the star confirmed it is actually meant to be ‘Sigh-fred’.
Amanda confirmed as much during the announcement of Oscar nominations by Brad Pitt as she tweeted: ‘Correct pronunciation of “Seyfried” by Brad Pitt. Thank you, @theacademy.’
In a 2012 interview with Hollywood Streams, the actress said the worst pronunciation of her last name would be ‘Say-fried’ or ‘Sig-freed’.
9. Ariana Grande (Ariana Gran-dee)
Pop star Ariana Grande has previously revealed she allowed her last name to be pronounced incorrectly by the media
Pop star Ariana Grande has previously revealed she allowed her last name to be pronounced incorrectly by the media.
The 30-year-old singer, who has been performing since she was a child, explained her last name is less like the coffee, and actually rhymes with candy.
She told Beats 1’s Ebro Darden that she had pronounced her last name as ‘gran-dee’ when she was growing up.
In fact, the pronunciation has always been ‘gran-dee’ in the Grande family.
A video of the singer pronouncing her name as ‘Grandee’ and not ‘Granday’ left many fans stunned.
However she has continued to go with the popular pronunciation since the reveal.
10. Charlize Theron (Charlize There-in)
She’s an Oscar-winning actress who’s been in the public eye for three decades. Yet fans of Charlize Theron have been getting her name wrong the entire time
She’s an Oscar-winning actress who’s been in the public eye for three decades.
Yet fans of Charlize Theron have been getting her name wrong the entire time and it’s all down to the misleading ‘o’ in her surname.
During a 2014 segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Atomic Blonde star revealed that her surname is actually pronounced ‘There-in’ and said she wanted to make an audio tape for people who were saying it wrong.
However, it seems she may need to listen to that tape back herself, as during an appearance on The One Show in 2020 she came up with another pronunciation.
As host Gethin Jones questioned if the emphasis on her surname should be on the ‘ther’ or the ‘on’, she replied: ‘The truth of the matter is those are not even remotely close to the real pronunciation.’
Charlize then claimed her surname – which originates in France – is in fact pronounced ‘Throne’, with a slight roll of the ‘r’.
11. Chrissy Teigen (Chrissy Tie-Ghen)
Chrissy Teigen shocked her Twitter followers in 2018 when she tweeted that nearly everyone mispronounces the name – which is Norwegian
The star has confirmed several times that this is how she was taught how to pronounce her name when she was growing up
Chrissy Teigen shocked her Twitter followers in 2018 when she tweeted that nearly everyone mispronounces the name – which is Norwegian.
Though most people say it as ‘tee-ghan,’ the correct way to say her last name is actually ‘tie-ghen’.
The star has confirmed several times that this is how she was taught how to pronounce her name when she was growing up.
12. Brendan Fraser (Brendan Fra-zor)
Brendan Fraser revealed ‘no one’s ever gotten my name right’ as during a chat with Adam Sandler for Variety last year
Brendan Fraser revealed ‘no one’s ever gotten my name right’ as during a chat with Adam Sandler for Variety last year.
The actor, 55, explained how to pronounce his name after pointing out that most people pronounce his surname as ‘Fray-zsur’ , like the TV show Frasier.
However, The Mummy star said it is ‘supposed to be like razor’ before ‘giving up’ on the hope someone will get it right.
Speaking for a Variety’s Actors on Actors interview, Grown Up’s actor Adam, 56, said: ‘When I first met Brendon Fraser… That’s your full name, right? Brendan Fraser?’
Brendan replied: ‘It’s Fraser, it’s supposed to be like razor. Like that thing you shave with.’
Later in the interview, The Just Go With It star mispronounced it again and Brendan made a razor gesture to remind him.
Eventually, Brendan ‘gave up’ on the hope of his name being pronounced properly and added: ‘Ok. F*** it. No one’s ever gotten my name right.’
13. Margot Robbie (Ma-Go Robbie)
During an interview to promote her film, Babylon, Margot Robbie revealed the unknown difference in how her name is pronounced in her homeland
During an interview to promote her film, Babylon, Margot Robbie revealed the unknown difference in how her name is pronounced in her homeland.
The Queensland-born beauty said she loves returning to Australia because she feels ‘proud’ how her fellow Aussies correctly pronounce her name, compared to Americans.
She explained: ‘ You know, you have the premiere and people scream out your name. I just love hearing my name with an Aussie accent too because in America everyone hits the R.
‘They got “Marr-go” not “Ma-go”.’
14. Justin Theroux (Justin Ther-row)
Hollywood actor Justin Theroux (pictured) and his British cousin Louis Theroux clashed over how to pronounce their surname during a light-hearted interview in 2021
While Justin goes by ‘ther-oh’, British documentary maker Louis (right) goes by ‘ther-oo’ and the pair have been unable to agree on which pronunciation is correct
Hollywood actor Justin Theroux and his British cousin Louis Theroux clashed over how to pronounce their surname during a light-hearted interview in 2021.
During the conversation, the pair admitted they disagree over the pronunciation of their surname.
Introducing his cousin with his full name, Louis said: ‘I hesitate to give our common name the mispronunciation you insist on.’
‘You go by “ther-oo” and I go by “ther-oh”,’ Justin explained,’ prompting Louis to respond: ‘Or to put it another way, I use the correct pronunciation, and you use some weird, incorrect one.’
Backing up his argument, Louis pointed to the French origin of the surname.
‘Theroux, it’s a word of French origin,’ he pointed out. I guess the related words would be ones like “roux” (pronounced “roo”), as in roux sauce…’
Not to be outdone, Justin retorted: ‘If you wanted to get technical, when you go to France they say “Bonjour, Mr Terr-oo”, they put the “T” on it, so maybe you’re wrong, maybe we’re both wrong.’
Prior to the pair’s chat, Justin’s uncle also commented on how the actor preferred to say his name during an interview with Apple TV+.
Paul Theroux stated: ‘The main character is played by Justin Theroux, my nephew… Sometimes he calls himself Justin Tha-row [laughs]. It’s a French name, it’s Tha-roo.’
15. Raven-Symoné (Raven See-Mon-Ye)
Millennials across the world grew up knowing of Disney star Raven-Symoné from her self-titled show, That’s So Raven. Yet it appears her last name isn’t as easy to pronounce
Millennials across the world grew up knowing of Disney star Raven-Symoné from her self-titled show, That’s So Raven.
Yet it appears her last name isn’t as easy to pronounce.
Taking to TikTok last year, she calmly revealed that everyone know that it’s ‘see-mon-ye’ instead of ‘Si-moan’.
She dropped the point home further by leaving a comment which read: ‘See-mon-ye like yay.’
