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Created by Yuri B. Koryakov
Many of us have encountered a situation where we need to pronounce the name of a linguist, but we don’t know how. Or we need to write down someone’s name in another script (Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, etc.), and this again requires correct pronunciation.
As a result, you have to look for pronunciation instructions on personal webpages, listen to recordings on YouTube, ask friends, and so on, but it is much more convenient when such information is collected in one place. To do this, I created an online project: the homepage with general principles here, and the editable list of names and their transcriptions here.
How to add your name to the list
Go to the spreadsheet. Find the place where your name should be located alphabetically and insert an empty line (right mouse button - Insert line above) or add yourself at the very end of the list (once a day I will sort it alphabetically).
If your name is already in the list and you’re sure it’s you, check the info (and correct if necessary) and replace the source with ‘self’. If you’re not sure it’s you, add a new line, write your own version and add some identifier (website / email / year of birth, etc.) in the Comments column.
When adding yourself, fill in at least the first four columns:
Indicate your name in Latin script (i.e., for example, the way you sign your articles in international English-language publications), dividing it into two parts:
►Family name / Last name / Surname (that is, the part that comes first before the comma in many reference styles)
►Other names, incl. first/given name, middle names, patronymics, etc. For a personal name, you can indicate in parentheses the form of the name (for example, hypocoristic) by which you would like to be addressed. Provide then its transcritption in IPA column, after the full name.
►IPA transcription of full name. Please provide a transcription of your full name (in your preferred order) in IPA. You can specify two or more pronunciations of your name (for example, more “angloid” and more “native”). Be sure to mark stress (if your language has one) by using the ˈ sign either before the stressed syllable or before the stressed vowel. The syllabification (with a dot as a syllable separator) is optional. Transcription can be either broad (~phonemic) or narrower (more phonetic), it’s up to you.
►Source of IPA – fill in “self” if you are filling in for yourself.
The remaining fields are optional:
►Pronoun – indicate the English personal pronoun by which you would like to be referred to (he, she, they, …)
►Native language/dialect – provide if you are going to indicate the spelling of your name in your native language. If there are several languages, list them separated by semicolons.
►Glottocode – enter the Glottocode of your native language according to glottolog.org. If your language/dialect is absent there, write “Not available” or N/A
►Full name in native language/dialect – write your full name (in your preferred order) in your native language/dialect (if its spelling differs from (Standard) English)
►Spellings in other language/script (ex. Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese) if you use/establish them, with indication of the language , in parentheses after the name
►Comments – any other comments that do not fit in other columns; including information that allows you to be identified (your website / email / year of birth, etc.), if there are complete namesakes
Additional difficulties that this project allows to solve:
a) distinguishing the surname from other names (necessary for the correct compilation of bibliographies and especially relevant for languages with a different order of components in the name or for names consisting of more than two words)
b) indicating gender pronouns – he / she / they – useful in many languages when you need to, for example, refer to the author.
If you are in doubt whether you should indicate yourself, you can use the following criterion as a working one: if you have published at least one article or had one presentation at a conference, you can safely provide your name. Also if people pronounce your name differently from how you’d like it to be pronounced, or if you’ve ever been asked how to pronounce your name, that’s a hint that you should provide that information.
If you can’t/don’t want to add your data to the sheet yourself, you can send it to me by email ybkoryakov@gmail.com. Also write if you have any questions/comments/suggestions etc.
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Special thanks to Maria Gouskova, who created a wonderful webpage with a large number of names and inspired me to create this google-sheet. The following are the thanks from her page: Special thanks to Laurel MacKenzie, who supplied many transcriptions and suggestions. Thanks also (in no particular order and without links, sorry) to Tricia Irwin, Wayles Browne, Steven Franks, Michael Becker, Ryan Bennett, Ailís Cournane, Greg Guy, Lisa Davidson, Anna Szabolcsi, and Emily Gasser for suggestions and transcription verification.
Special thanks to the journal Linguistic typology, which, since 2018, requires all authors of articles to indicate the pronunciation of their names in IPA.
This page is a part of Lingvarium project website – www.lingvarium.org
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Created in August, 2026 ¦ Last updated on Aug, 09, 2026 17:14