How To Pronounce Indian Names

A friend of mine was complaining recently that people go out of their way to avoid saying her name and it causes unnecessary confusion. She made a great educational video on how to say her name. I was surprised at first hearing that she had this problem because to me Indian names are mostly pretty straightforward. But I realized that, of course, I have a great deal of familiarity with them. That was not always the case and so I thought I might be able to help demystify Indian names for other non-Indian Westerners.

See the video here: https://www.facebook.com/anupama.pillalamarri/posts/10153353632925662

I think what happens is that Westerners with no connection to India see an Indian name and they panic. Most of us are used to reading whole words at a time. When we see a word we don’t have to sound out each letter, we know what it is. When one is unfamiliar with Indian names one just sees a pile of letters with no idea where to start to untangle them. But it’s actually really simple.

(You know what names are really hard for Americans to pronounce? Irish names! Siobhan=Shiv-on, Garrioch=Ger-rick, Saoirse=???, Caoimhe= no idea. Indian names are WAY easier, I promise!)

My tip here is not going to necessarily get you pronouncing your Indian friends and coworkers’ names perfectly but it will get you very close. You’ll be in the ballpark enough that they will be able to give you small corrections and I suspect most will very much appreciate the effort. You can ask if they have a nickname, but don’t assume and just say part of their name. I encourage you to ask if they can write it down for you if you’re in person so that you can more easily see the syllables.

When you encounter an Indian name, break it down by syllable.
An “a” is almost always “ahhh” sound (thought sometimes an “uh” sound) and an “i” is often an “ee”, particularly at the end of the name (as is standard transliteration).
Most, though not all, will have the emphasis on the first syllable

Anupama = A-nu-pa-ma = AH-nu-pah-mah

Anuradha = A-nu-rad-ha = AH-nu-rahd-haa

Siddharth = Sidd-harth = Sid-haar-t (you’ll have to ask the person about the final syllable. Even though in Indian languages the “th” sound is an aspirated “t” rather than the English “th” sound I have found that some Americans with this name prefer to pronounce it with an English “th” sound).

Manoj = Man-oj = Maan-oh-j

Devika =De-vi-ka = DAY-vee-kaa

Akshay = Ak-shay = AAK-shay

Akash = A-kash = AAH-kaash

Arjun = Ar-jun = AR-joon

Jaya = Ja-ya = JAY-yaa

Teja = Te-ja = TAY-zhaa

Prakash = pra-kash = PRAH-kaash

Karthik = Kar=thik = KAR-tick

Vivek = Vi-vek = VEEV-ache

Prashant = Pra-shant = PRA-shaan-t

Aditya = A-dit-ya = AAH-deet-yaa