While Shakespeare's famous words, What's in a name, continue to resonate, we cannot be too sure about pronunciations, especially when it comes to brand names.
A new report from BusinessFinancing.co.uk has revealed a list of the world's most mispronounced brands, which includes a separate category for food and drinks brands.
The study compiled and analysed data from the pronunciation website Forvo.com to identify the brands from every country that are mispronounced the most.
The list comprised around 16,875 leading global brands and the number of listens for each word on the online dictionary was recorded in March of this year.
The brands were ranked based on the most 'listens' overall and by category for each country.
Findings
Six of the 20 most mispronounced brands are French, while just three are American – despite the general dominance of US brands on the global scene, according to the study.
Interestingly, French retailer Carrefour made it to the top 20 list with 320,000 listens on Forvo.com.
Germany contributed five to the top 20 list, while several Swedish brands, including IKEA, Spotify and Volvo also featured in this list.
Heineken is the Netherlands' most mispronounced brand, with 141,000 listens, while in Switzerland it is Nestlé with 102,000 listens.
In New Zealand, Fonterra emerged on top, while in Australia it was the food spread brand Vegemite.
In the US, Marlboro is the most mispronounced with 442,000 searches.
Food And Drinks
In the food and drinks category, half of the ten most mispronounced brands are alcoholic drinks.
Germany’s Jägermeister (pronounced as yay·guh·my·stuh) is on top of the list with 256,000 listens, followed by France's Veuve Clicquot at 253,000 listens.
In the United States, Budweiser is the most mispronounced in the category with 128,000 listens.
Nutella in Italy, Freixenet in Spain, Leffe in Belgium, and Tullamore Dew in Ireland are the top mispronounced brands in food and drinks in their respective countries.
The Five Most Mispronounced Brands
French financial services company Société Générale is the most mispronounced brand in the world, having been searched 2.1 million times on Forvo.com.
It is followed by Peugeot, another French brand, with 1.7 million 'listens' on the online dictionary.
Porsche, Tommy Hilfiger and IKEA round off the top five.
