{"id":2123,"date":"2022-02-27T10:09:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T18:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2025-02-10T11:22:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T19:22:46","slug":"the-names-the-same-if-you-play-my-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=2123","title":{"rendered":"The Name’s the Same if You Play My Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All my life, there is ongoing confusion with everyone I meet on how to pronounce my last name: ‘Lewczyk’. The name is Polish, and different languages have different ways to pronounce letters \u2013 plus some languages even have different letters that other languages don’t have. Also, when your name is from another country, you need to find a sensible balance in the local language between: having your name be pronounced correctly<\/em> vs having it be pronounceable<\/em> (consistently).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was born in the Buffalo NY area, where there is a sizable percentage of people of Polish descent \u2013 so the likelihood of someone pronouncing my last name correctly around Buffalo is higher than where I live now (California). In Buffalo (and other east US cities) there are even streets with Polish names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember only one time in my life that someone new pronounced my last name correctly. It was a teacher in school who was (I believe) married to someone with a Polish last name similar to mine \u2013 so the teacher knew how to pronounce my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of Polish pronunciation, my last name is tricky for two reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n