If you find someone’s name confusing or different from what you’re used to, all it takes is a bit of research to ensure you get the pronunciation right. However, lots of musicians have opted to use fake names that aren’t exactly obvious in their correct pronunciation. Just as well, plenty of musicians use their real names, and there’s conflicting information out there on how to pronounce those names properly. Feel free ot judge how dumb I am and take a look at a few musicians whose names I still can’t pronounce properly!
1. 6lack
This famous rapper and alternative R&B artist opted to toss a number into his stage name, and some fans still can’t get it right. We don’t exactly blame them. For future reference, it’s apparently pronounced “Black”, as if the “6” were a “B”.
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2. Mk.Gee
It’s kind of a running joke that Mk.Gee’s name is hard to pronounce. Luckily, he has broken down the correct way to say it, though that won’t keep him from our list of musicians with names that are hard to pronounce. People still get “Mik-Ghee” wrong all the time.
3. Djo
You might know this musician-slash-actor best as the easy-to-pronounce Joe Keery, who made waves with his roles in the shows Stranger Things and Fargo. He’s also a very accomplished and talented neo-psychedelia artist who goes by the stage name Djo. Naturally, he has made it to our list of musicians with names that are hard to pronounce.
So, is it “Duh-Joh” or “Dee-Jo” or “Dyoh?” According to the musician, the “D” is silent, so it’s literally just his name, “Joe”.
4. Bon Iver
This one threw me for a loop. I’ve been calling this American indie folk artist “Bohn Eye-ver” for years. According to the artist himself, that isn’t correct. But he’s not particularly partial to any specific pronunciation.
“I sorta wanted it to be like ‘Bon Iverre’, sort of like how I saw it, but that didn’t look good either, so I just decided to chop off the ‘h’,” said Iver in an interview with Pitchfork. “I don’t mind if people say Bon Eye-ver or Bone-y-ver. It doesn’t bother me. Whatever people end up saying, that’s fine.”
In the interview, he notably pronounces it as “Bone Ee-VARE”, which is about as far away from how I have been pronouncing it as possible.
5. Björk
This one hurts, considering I’m a huge fan of her work. A very famous addition to our list of musicians with names that are a bit hard to pronounce, Björk has a very stunning Icelandic name that non-Icelandic people have historically had trouble pronouncing. Historically, her name has been pronounced “Byork” by her non-Icelandic contemporaries.
However, according to fellow Icelandic singer Laufey, Björk’s name is pronounced “Byerk” or “Byuschk”. She doesn’t seem unhappy with being called “Byork”, though, so who knows what’s right or wrong?
Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
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