[Applause]
it is always the same on the first day
of school when the teacher takes
Hollan Ponte gray stai Bella garage
garage is not my last name I’m not a
place where you keep your car my last
name is gray for my whole life people
have been mispronouncing my last name I
know it’s not an average American name
but doesn’t mean you get to mispronounce
it my last name has a lot of history and
a family crest attached to it a nobleman
in the austrian-hungarian empire
designated my family crest with two
happens because my ancestors represent
one of the original noble croatian
families my last name is pronounced gar
I got it my dad Peter gray is an artist
whose work is widely commissioned and
for a while decide to give in on the
misspelling of our last name and he
began to sign his artwork gurai with the
Y he only did this for some of his first
paintings and sculptures so people would
be able to pronounce his name correctly
and find him on the internet if they
wanted to buy his artwork this is really
ironic since a lot of his artwork
represents America and America chooses
not to learn his name you should really
ask people how to pronounce their name
before you get it wrong because you
could offend them they could think that
you were trying to be rude or don’t care
when someone tells you to call them
Beatrice but you keep calling them Betty
they could find this offensive they
could think that you’re trying to be
rude or don’t care the stakes get even
higher when you mispronounce a person’s
name from another country or continent
America is built by immigrants and
founded by immigrants if it weren’t for
immigrants I don’t know where we would
be today this when you refuse to
pronounce a person’s name from another
country or continent you are not
honoring them a pseudonym is when a
author uses a false name on the cover of
their book for example Charlotte Bronte
published a book in the nineteen
century using the male name using the
male name curb bail when it was really a
woman my dad and Charlotte brontë kind
of had the same problem my dad changed
the spelling on the face of his artwork
when society wasn’t willing to learn his
name an online article by the blocker
levy says the key to pronouncing long
names is take it syllable by syllable so
this name is an equal on the count of
three we are all going to say it
together syllable by syllable ready one
two three
aim way woo
good job everybody give yourself a round
of applause as you can tell no name is
hard to pronounce when you break it down
this way don’t even get me started when
a student comes to school with the
Middle Eastern or Indian name and the
teacher doesn’t even bother to
mispronounce it he or she just says
we’ll call you Steve when you when you
refuse to pronounce another person’s
name you send a message intentionally or
not that you are the arbiter of what
belongs and everyone else should follow
your lead don’t be this person the name is gray thank you
it is always the same on the first day
of school when the teacher takes
Hollan Ponte gray stai Bella garage
garage is not my last name I’m not a
place where you keep your car my last
name is gray for my whole life people
have been mispronouncing my last name I
know it’s not an average American name
but doesn’t mean you get to mispronounce
it my last name has a lot of history and
a family crest attached to it a nobleman
in the austrian-hungarian empire
designated my family crest with two
happens because my ancestors represent
one of the original noble croatian
families my last name is pronounced gar
I got it my dad Peter gray is an artist
whose work is widely commissioned and
for a while decide to give in on the
misspelling of our last name and he
began to sign his artwork gurai with the
Y he only did this for some of his first
paintings and sculptures so people would
be able to pronounce his name correctly
and find him on the internet if they
wanted to buy his artwork this is really
ironic since a lot of his artwork
represents America and America chooses
not to learn his name you should really
ask people how to pronounce their name
before you get it wrong because you
could offend them they could think that
you were trying to be rude or don’t care
when someone tells you to call them
Beatrice but you keep calling them Betty
they could find this offensive they
could think that you’re trying to be
rude or don’t care the stakes get even
higher when you mispronounce a person’s
name from another country or continent
America is built by immigrants and
founded by immigrants if it weren’t for
immigrants I don’t know where we would
be today this when you refuse to
pronounce a person’s name from another
country or continent you are not
honoring them a pseudonym is when a
author uses a false name on the cover of
their book for example Charlotte Bronte
published a book in the nineteen
century using the male name using the
male name curb bail when it was really a
woman my dad and Charlotte brontë kind
of had the same problem my dad changed
the spelling on the face of his artwork
when society wasn’t willing to learn his
name an online article by the blocker
levy says the key to pronouncing long
names is take it syllable by syllable so
this name is an equal on the count of
three we are all going to say it
together syllable by syllable ready one
two three
aim way woo
good job everybody give yourself a round
of applause as you can tell no name is
hard to pronounce when you break it down
this way don’t even get me started when
a student comes to school with the
Middle Eastern or Indian name and the
teacher doesn’t even bother to
mispronounce it he or she just says
we’ll call you Steve when you when you
refuse to pronounce another person’s
name you send a message intentionally or
not that you are the arbiter of what
belongs and everyone else should follow
your lead don’t be this person the name is gray thank you
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