From Peugeot to Marlboro, brands across the world are struggling with an unusual challenge: getting people to say their names correctly.
Whether it’s high fashion handbags or high-powered cars, international customers often find it difficult to pronounce many of the world’s most popular brands.
Analysts at Business Financing looked at data from Forvo, an online pronunciation dictionary, to see which brands had the most listens.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is French brands which claim the top spot as the world’s least pronounceable companies.
The French Société Générale is the most mispronounced brand in the world, having been listened to 2.1 million times.
Analysts at Business Financing looked at data from Forvo, an online pronunciation dictionary, to see which brands had the most listens
From Peugeot (pictured) to Marlboro, brands across the world are struggling with an unusual challenge: getting people to say their names correctly
France has the dubious honour of being home to four of the world’s top 10 least pronounceable brands.
Peugeot came in second place with 1.7 million listens on Forvo, more than twice as many as Porsche in third place.
Citroen meanwhile came in at seventh with 443,000 listens, while Louis Vuitton was the tenth least pronounceable brand name, with 412,000 listens.
In the UK, the least pronounceable brand (at least among English speakers) was Burberry.
The clothing brand was listened to 141,000 times by those looking to get the perfect British pronunciation.
Elsewhere in Europe, Sweden’s Ikea also ranked very highlighly as one of the least pronounceable brands with 561,000 listens.
In fact there is quite a good chance you have been pronouncing this one wrong as well.
While most Britons would pronounce the furniture store with some variation of ‘Eye-key-ah’, the real Swedish pronunciation sounds more like ‘Ee-kay-uh’.
In the world of food and drink, alchohol brands prove the hardest to say even before you’ve sampled some of their products
Sweden’s Ikea also ranked very highlighly as one of the least pronounceable brands with 561,000 listens
Germany’s least pronounceable brand might be something of a surprise since BMW claims the top spot.
Despite only having three letters, the car brand’s name was listened to 467,000 times.
Outside of Europe, the US’s most mispronounced brand was Tommy Hilfiger which received nearly 600,000 listens.
The name is so often confused that Tommy Hilfiger himself reportedly considered naming the brand Tommy Hill to make it easier for customers.
Over in Asia, the continent’s least pronounceable brand was Hitachi which was listened to 303,000 times.
France has the dubious honour of being home to four of the world’s top 10 least pronounceable brands
Over in Asia, the continent’s least pronounceable brand was Hitachi which was listened to 303,000 times
To get this one right, it’s worth remembering that Hitachi is actually made of two distinct Japanese Kanji characters: ‘hi’ meaning sun and ‘tachi’ meaning rise.
The name should sound more like ‘Hit Archie’ with an extra emphasis on the first syllable.
Elsewhere in Asia, the South Korean brand Samsung also generated its fair share of confusion with people checking the pronunciation 302,000 times.
In the world of food and drink, alchohol brands prove the hardest to say even before you’ve sampled some of their products.
Germany’s Jagermeister was the most difficult with 256,000 listens.
Budweiser was the hardest American brand to pronounce, with 128,000 listens while in the UK, Chivas Regal proved the most difficult with 56,000 listens.
And in fashion, while Tommy Hilfiger claims the top spot, French brands once again prove particularly difficult.
Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Givenchy, Balenciaga, and Chloe all made it into the top 10 least pronounceable fashion brands.
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