Pronounce It Right

Know how to say it before you have to.

Type a name, food, place, brand, word, or phrase. Pronounce It Right shows you how to say it, where the stress goes, and how to make unfamiliar sounds — with guidance adapted to the language you already speak. When the spelling alone can't settle a reading (a name especially), it says so instead of guessing.

See what Pronounce It Right gives you

Real output from an actual run on the name below — the main result, nothing reworded.

The name

Siobhan (a name), for an American English speaker

Real run, 2026-10-08 — one of the tool's own built-in examples.

shih-VAWN · /ʃɪˈvɔːn/

Two syllables with clear stress on the second: shih-VAWN — the first syllable is short and unstressed, the second carries the weight.

Sounds like

Rhymes with 'dawn' — the final syllable sounds like VAWN, as in 'fawn' with a V at the front.

Common mistakes

• Reading 'Si' as 'see' and 'bh' as 'b' produces something like 'see-uh-BON', following English letter-by-letter reading habits. The whole name sounds like shih-VAWN — the opening 'Siob' sounds like 'shiv' and the 'an' ending sounds like 'awn'.
• Pronouncing the 'h' in 'Siobh' as a separate sound or omitting the SH entirely. The 'S' and 'iobh' together produce a SH sound followed by a V — say shih-VAWN as a single smooth unit.

If you are meeting them

If you are meeting this person, you might say: 'I want to make sure I say your name correctly — could you say it for me?' A common pronunciation is shih-VAWN, but individuals may say it differently.

In a Nutshell

When

Before you have to say it out loud in front of someone.

You give

The word, its category, and your native language.

You get

A phonetic guide built from sounds you already have, plus what to avoid.

The edge

It calibrates to your native language — the hard part of a word is different for a Spanish speaker than a Mandarin one.

Good to Know

• Your native language selection matters — a Spanish speaker needs different guidance than a Korean speaker for the same word.
• For a person's name, the guide gives the common reading when one exists plus a respectful script for confirming it — spelling alone can't tell you how someone says their own name.
• When a reading could go more than one way, the guide says so and explains what context would settle it, instead of picking one and hoping.
• IPA notation is hidden by default but available if you read it — tap 'Show IPA' in the result.
• 'Hear it' speaks the exact IPA transcription shown above, not a guess from the raw spelling — so it only appears when the guide was confident enough to produce genuine IPA, and it's a convenience, not proof of the correct reading.

Questions people ask

How do you pronounce Siobhan?

shih-VAWN, with the stress on the second syllable (IPA /ʃɪˈvɔːn/). It is an Irish name: 'Si' sounds like 'sh' and 'bh' like 'v'. As with any name, the person's own pronunciation is the one to use.

How can I check how someone says their own name?

Ask once, early and simply: 'I want to make sure I say your name right — how do you say it?' Then use it. Email signatures, voicemail greetings and video introductions are other good sources.

Does Pronounce It Right only do names?

No. It covers names, places, food, brands, music and art, and foreign phrases, and it gives the stress, a sounds-like guide and the common mistakes for each.

Can it adjust for my own accent?

Yes. Tell it your first language or accent and the guide is written for the sounds you already make.