For the record:
Charlize doesn't know, either.
Amanpour, Christiane (kris-tə-YAN ä-MÄN-pür)
Auel, Jean (OUL)
Baum, L. Frank (BOM)
Blanchett, Cate (KĀT BLAN-chət)
Buscemi, Steve (boo-SHEM-ē)
Clowes, Daniel (KLŌZ)
Coelho, Paulo (POU-lō KOO-ĀL-yoo)
Derrida, Jacques (zhäk dâr-ē-DÄ)
Fiennes, Ralph (RĀF FĪNZ)
Foer, Jonathan Safran (FÔR)
Fraser, Brendan (FRĀZ-ər)
Hedaya, Dan (hə-DĀ-yə)
Herge (ÂR-JĀ)
Inhofe, James M. (IN-hof)
Krugman, Paul (KROOG-mən)
LaBeouf, Shia (SHĪ lə-BOOF)
Lazenby, George (LĀZ-ən-bē)
Leto, Jared (LET-ō)
Limbaugh, Rush (LIM-bô)
Loggia, Robert (LŌZH-yə)
Lohan, Lindsay (LŌ-ən)
Milosevic, Slobodan (slō-BŌ-dän mē-LŌ-she-vich)
Rand, Ayn (ĪN)
Rhys-Davies, John (RĒS-DĀV-is)
Rushdie, Salman (SÄL-mən RÜSH-dē)
Silverstone, Alicia (ə-LĒ-sē-ə)
Stevens, Sufjan (SOOF-yan)
Stevenson, Adlai (AD-lā)
Takei, George (tä-KĀ)
Theron, Charlize (shär-LĒZ THER-ən)
Xiaoping, Deng (DUNG-SHYOU-PING)
Yeoh, Michelle (YŌ)
Yun-Fat, Chow (YOON-FÄT)
Zagat, Tim (zə-GAT)
Zeta-Jones, Catherine (ZĒT-ə)
Actually…. NO. That is not how you pronounce Charlize Theron. Let me explain.
Assuming the correct way to pronounce Ms Theron is how she would pronounce it herself in her native environment. I’m sure that everyone agrees that this would be correct rather than a version that has been changed to allow people in other countries to be able to pronounce it.
As a native of sunny South Africa and an Afrikaans speaking one at that Ms Theron would have grown up pronouncing her last name as Tron – sounding pretty much like the movie of the same name we all loved so many years ago (She is probably from French Huegenot immigrant stock – wiki that).
I grew up about 30 miles from where she sp you’ll have to take my word for it or, of course, fly to South Africa and ask someone.
More useless information :)
Aw man, and I’ve been pronouncing “Herge” to rhyme with “surge” all these years?
I guess I’m going to have to call her “Charlize Tron” from now on.
I think I can handle that sacrifice :)
Unsurprisingly, the U.S. government has failed me again.
Just a point of order (and yes I’m also South African): The THER-ən pronunciation is the US version, and the “Tron” is local. The only people who’d call her “Tron” are locals, so if you want her to start speaking Afrikaans to you, try that.
(Not knowing her myself, obviously, I can’t guarantee that she’d necessarily want to speak to you, or refrain from slapping you for the audacity to address her, but somehow I think not.)