How to pronounce the names of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates

AP Photo/John Locher

• There are currently 14 Democratic candidates running for president in 2020 so far, and many of their names are frequently mispronounced or mangled.
• Sen. Kamala Harris even once put out a campaign ad centered around how to correctly pronounce her first name. 
• Here’s how 2020 Democratic presidential candidates pronounce their names.

There are currently 14 Democratic candidates running for president in 2020, and many of their names are frequently mispronounced or mangled.

While Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Andrew Yang’s names are all relatively intuitive, others are much harder to pronounce. 

When Sen. Kamala Harris was running for US Senate in 2016, she even put out a light-hearted campaign ad centered around how to correctly pronounce her first name. 

Read more: Trump is already brainstorming nicknames for the large 2020 field of Democrats

Gov. John Hickenlooper said in his announcement video that being bullied growing up as "a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name" prepared him to run against President Donald Trump. 

And former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose full name is Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg, is happy to go by just "Mayor Pete." 

Here’s how 2020 Democratic presidential candidates pronounce their names:

• Sen. Kamala Harris’ first name is pronounced Kah-mull-uh, not Kuh-mall-uh or Kam-ayla.
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s name is pronounced Keer-sten Jill-uh-brand. 
• Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Twitter page says his last name is pronounced like boot-edge-edge, but his husband Chasten’s profile advises that the best pronunciation is buddha-judge. "Either way, it gets you there," Buttigieg joked of their disagreement at a Sunday CNN town hall. 
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard pronounces her name Tull-see Gah-bard.
• Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro uses the Spanish pronunciation of whoo-le-ahn for his first name, not the English pronunciation of jewel-ian.
• Gov. John Hickenlooper’s last name, which he says means "hedge-hopper" in Dutch, is pronounced Hick-enn-loop-her.
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s last name is pronounced Khlo-bush-har, not claw-boo-char.
• Rep. John Delaney’s last name is pronounced Duh-lay-nee not Duh-lanny.
• Sen. Cory Booker’s name is pronounced pretty much how it looks: Cor-ee Book-er.
• So is Gov Jay Inslee’s: Jay Ins-lee.
• And Marianne Williamson’s first name is pronounced just like Mary-Anne would be. 

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See Also:

• Amy Klobuchar is running as a pragmatic, moderate Democrat to take on Trump in 2020 — here’s why she could lose the primary
• A 2020 presidential candidate says that the NCAA’s ban on paying athletes is ‘immoral’
• Elizabeth Warren rolls out plan to break up tech giants in the same neighborhood where Amazon’s New York HQ2 was going to be

SEE ALSO: Pete Buttigieg wants to end the Electoral College, add more seats to the Supreme Court, and become America’s youngest president

SEE ALSO: https://www.businessinsider.com/everyone-who-is-running-for-president-in-2020-2019-1

Source: Business Insider – gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta)