The other night, while watching SportsCenter on ESPN, there was a blurb about Dat Nguyen of the Dallas Cowboys. What pricked my ear, however, was how they pronounced his name. They pronounced it “Nen” (as in, the closer for the SF Giants), whereas I’ve always been told it was more like “Nwin”. Are there two different pronunciations for this Vietnamese name, or is one of them incorrect?
Remember actor Dustin Nguyen of the old Fox show 21 Jump Street? His last name took on the Americanized pronunciation of, basically, “Gwen”. It always came out “Dustin Gwen”. This is not how it is pronounced in strict Vietnamese, of course. Their was a girl in my high school with the last name “Ng”. It’s pronounced “Ing” (rhymrd with “ring”). I dare say it is pronounced ...
Vietnamese families who settle in America frequently alter the correct pronunciation or learn to answer to anything close. Hence, you get guys like actor Dustin (“21 Jump Street”) Nguyen who pronounces his name “Gwenn.” Or Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dat Nguyen whose name is pronounced “Wenn.”
The proper way to pronounce his name is… whatever way he chooses. Most of the time, people named “Nguyen” will answer happily to “winn” or “wenn.” But then you’ve got folks like the actor Dustin Nguyen who pronounces it like “Gwenn.” Other Vietnamese Americans with that name have learned to answer to anything close.
A glance at Vietnamese reveals a romanized way of writing an East Asian language that doesn’t relate to the way in which we pronounce English - how do you pronounce “nguyen”, for example.