You’re pronouncing your favorite brands all wrong! Full list of the hardest household names to get right – with Nike at the top
Whether you’re buying a pair of sneakers, choosing your next car, or suggesting a restaurant to your friends, the last thing you want to do is make a mispronunciation.
From Louis Vuitton to Hyundai, there is no shortage of brands that can be challenging to pronounce, especially when the names have non-English origins.
With this in mind, Solopress has researched how many people search for how to pronounce popular brand names using Google’s search volume data to reveal the most commonly mispronounced ones worldwide.
So are you making these mistakes or are you pronouncing these marks correctly?
Read on for the full list, including which name surprisingly came out on top and how to actually pronounce them all.
It was revealed that ‘Nike’ is actually the hardest brand to pronounce in the world
It was revealed that ‘Nike’ is actually the hardest brand to pronounce in the world, with an average of 25,500 people Googling how to say it every month.
Over the years, there has been a long-running debate about how to pronounce the name of the American footwear and apparel company.
But the correct way to say Nike is actually ‘Nai-kee’ and it’s the most commonly pronounced brand in the world.
Philip Knight, the founder of the American brand, confirmed the extra syllable in 2014. However, many people continue to call it ‘Nai-k’ with only one syllable.
In second place is the car company Hyundai, which racks up a whopping 24,230 monthly searches worldwide.
The South Korean brand is correctly pronounced as ‘Hyun Day’. Even with its new ad on the correct pronunciation, people still continue to search for the correct way to say it.
With the automotive industry booming in countries like South Korea, Germany, Japan and France, it’s no wonder some brand names can cause confusion across the globe.
And when it comes to cars, the confusion continues as Volkswagen is in third place with 20,100 monthly searches.
In second place is car company Hyundai, racking up a whopping 24,230 monthly searches worldwide
As motoring fans will know, the correct way to say the German car name is “Folks-vagen”.
Fourth on the list is a fast food restaurant that is extremely popular in America and has since expanded to the UK.
Mexican barbecue Chipotle leaves 16,460 people scratching their heads every month when they try to say it out loud.
Despite ‘Chip-ottel’ being a common mispronunciation, the correct way to say it is actually ‘Chuh-powt-lay’.
The word chipotle comes from Nahuatl, a Mexican indigenous language, the word chilpoctli, which literally means a smoked chili pepper.
Rounding off the top five is the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton – a household name across the globe.
From luxury bags and leather goods to shoes and perfumes, the brand named after its founder sells a wealth of designer goodies – but can you pronounce the name correctly?
A massive 13,200 people worldwide struggle to say it the right way, which is ‘Loo-ee Vuh-ton’.
Mexican barbecue Chipotle leaves 16,460 people scratching their heads every month when they try to say it out loud
Numbers six and seven on the list are tech-related — Google (Goo-gl) churns out 11,380 per month on average, with Apple (A-pl) close behind with 6,050.
YouTube is in eighth place, which is correctly pronounced ‘Yu-tube’ – it has a lower search figure of 2,670 people per month globally.
Finally, car company Nissan (2,600) and multinational computer software company Adobe (2,100) complete the list in ninth and tenth.
Nissan is pronounced ‘Ni-san’, while Adobe is rightly pronounced ‘Uh-dow-bee’.
The new research also looked at each brand category individually, from travel and hospitality to technology and entertainment.
Other notable appearances included McDonald’s (Muhk-do-nuhldz) with 1,690 searches per month and Uber (Ooh-buh) with 1,450.
While BMW seems quite simple, the name in its native German sounds more like ‘bay-em-vay’, causing nearly 2,000 searches for the correct pronunciation every month worldwide.
How many brands have you realized you’re pronouncing wrong?
Richard Kemp, the designer who leads Solopress Design, feels that a solid, straightforward brand is paramount.
He has this advice for startups looking to name their brand:
‘A company’s name is often underestimated as a brand asset, but is actually one of the most important.
“While mispronunciations can never be completely avoided, especially when considering the international market, steps can be taken to keep uncertainty to a minimum.
‘Try to stick to four syllables or less and make sure it’s easy to spell and satisfying to say.’
Sylvia Johnson, Head of Methodology at Preply, adds: “The complexity of brand pronunciation corresponds to the linguistic composition of each name.
‘Depending on its country or language of origin, it varies in patterns, tones and unique phonetic formats.
‘Choosing a universally pronounceable trademark serves as a powerful tool for global market penetration. Clear and universal pronunciation positions the brand positively in the community of users and strengthens recognition and trust.’