How to pronounce brand names

A brand name is the one word on earth where the company gets to set the pronunciation, and companies regularly choose something that breaks English rules on purpose. Nike decided it was NY-kee — the classical Greek goddess's name, with the final e sounded. Versace announced, via an official campaign and a pointed magazine advert, that it is ver-SAH-chee, not the ver-SAH-chay Americans grew up saying. Hermès and Porsche follow the French and German rules of their founders. The result is that brand names sit outside normal English spelling behaviour, and the only reliable method is to learn each one the way you learn a person's name: by hearing it said.

The good news is that most big brands have settled a single international pronunciation, and the pattern behind them is learnable: brands pronounced by their country of origin's rules, brands reshaped by advertising, and brands where the company has explicitly corrected everyone. This guide covers the famous cases, with the rule behind each and audio in both US and UK voices where they differ.

Home-country rules. Porsche, Hermès and Zara are pronounced as their founders' languages would say them. Porsche is two syllables, POR-shuh, because in German the final e is always voiced. Hermès keeps its French air-MEZ, with the final s sounded — the opposite of the usual French rule, because the name ends in an accented letter that protects it. Zara is THAH-rah in Spain, where a z is always a th, and ZAH-rah abroad — the company accepts both.

Company correction. Versace is the famous case: an explicit "It's Versace, not Versache" campaign reset the American pronunciation from the 90s ver-SAH-chay to the Italian ver-SAH-chee. Hyundai, similarly, standardized HYUN-day in its advertising after years of competing versions.

Advertising English. Nike, IKEA and Adidas show what happens when a word is absorbed into English and re-spelled by ear. Nike is the deliberate exception — the company chose the two-syllable Greek form over the natural English nyke. IKEA is the reverse: the Swedish founder's pronunciation, roughly ih-KAY-uh, lost to the international campaign sound eye-KEE-uh.

When a brand is unfamiliar, three moves beat guessing. First, check the company's own media — a brand that cares about its pronunciation produces an advert or a "how to pronounce" page about it, as Loewe, Versace and others have done. Second, look at the founder's language: a German name gets German sounds, an Italian name gets Italian sounds. Third, when the brand is a person's name, the person decides. If a pronunciation genuinely divides people — and some brands do run two parallel versions for different markets — the one used by the headquarters is the safest default. The wider method for any name is in the names guide.

Q: Why do Americans say Adidas as uh-DEE-dus and Brits as ADD-i-das?
A: The name comes from the founder's nickname Adi Dassler, and in German the stress is on the first syllable. British English kept that pattern. American English shifted the stress to the second syllable — a standard American habit with multi-syllable brand names, as with Ma-rio for the game character.

Q: Is saying Hermès with a silent s wrong?
A: The French form always sounds the s: air-MEZ. The English version HER-meez with the stress on the first syllable is a genuine adaptation rather than an error, but the closer you get to the French, the safer you are.

Q: Can a company actually change how people say its name?
A: Sometimes, and only with money and time. Versace's campaign demonstrably shifted the American pronunciation within a few years, helped by celebrity usage. But IKEA shows the limits: the founder's pronunciation never beat the ads. Companies can choose their own pronunciation; they can only lobby for yours.

How to pronounce names — the general method for hearing any unfamiliar name. Fashion brands — Givenchy, Balenciaga and the rest of the hard cases. Hardest words to pronounce — where English itself behaves like a set of brand names.

Read slowly first. Pronounce each syllable deliberately before trying to blend them at full speed. Rushing hides the vowel and consonant shapes your ear needs to learn.

Record yourself. Most phones have a voice memo app — record a word, then compare it to the playback here. Hearing the gap between your version and the model accent makes targeted practice far easier.

Focus on one accent. Jumping between American, British and Australian in the same session creates confusion. Pick the accent you encounter most and stick with it until the patterns feel natural.

Every word above is a button. Set the accent and voice you want on the main screen, then come back — the guides use whatever you chose. To hear two accents against each other, use Compare; to test whether you can actually hear a contrast, use the listening quiz.