The 20 most common brands you have been pronouncing wrong

Famous global brands are moving away from their anglicized branding in favour of marketing the native pronunciation of their names.

A recent example of this is from car manufacturer Hyundai and this resulted in a +483 per cent increase in pronunciation search queries on Google.

With this in mind, Business Name Generator (BNG) has taken a look at the search volume of 70 brand giants – with origins from 17 global nations – to reveal the names we struggle with the most, and how to pronounce them correctly.

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The 20 most mispronounced global brands and how to say them

According to research, these are the 20 brands across different industries that are most commonly mispronounced around the world:

Porsche, has been named the most commonly mispronounced brand overall with 13,700 per month searching how to pronounce the name of the luxury high-end sports car manufacturer.

Commonly mistaken for Italian, Porsche is, in fact, German and means “offerings” in English. The correct pronunciation is “porsh-aa”.

In second place is sportswear brand, Nike, with 10,780 monthly searches made by consumers to clarify its true pronunciation.

If you have been saying it so that it rhymes with “bike”, as it looks like the same word just with an "N" replacing the "B."

However, you have actually been pronouncing it wrong, it's supposed to be pronounced as “nigh-key”, rhyming with “spikey”.

While its sportswear competitor Adidas has also had consumers mispronounce its name, ranking in 12th with 4,320 monthly searches.

Ranking third on the list is the iconic fashion brand Hermés with 8,820 searches per month for the correct pronunciation (over 105,000 searches per year).

The name of this brand can be difficult if you don't speak French, however, for future reference, it is “air-mez”.

Chloe Chai, spokesperson for Business Name Generator, commented on the topic.

“Frequently, brand names are mispronounced when they are in a language or dialect that is different from the speaker's native language," she said.

"It is not uncommon for individuals to be unaware that they are mispronouncing a brand name, especially if global marketing campaigns have promoted anglicized versions of the name. This is something that brands like IKEA and Hyundai are striving to move away from.

Chai also had some advice for those looking to name their prospective business.

"When devising a name for your business, marketers must consider its phonetics and ensure that it can be easily pronounced and remembered across various languages and cultures.

"This can be achieved through thorough research, testing, and localisation efforts.

She added: "Ultimately, a brand name that is easy to pronounce and recall can contribute to heightened brand awareness, customer loyalty, and overall success in the market.”

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