¶ Hooked on Phonetics

When I meet new folks, I often have to spend a moment explaining my last name, since many don't catch its pronunciation the first time. My last name has French origins, but many people (especially Midwesterners) pronounce it as duh jabbit. And that is so far from how it is said.

My last name is actually very close in pronunciation to déjà vu. Except drop off the voo sound and replace it with bay.

déjà-bay

See? Not too difficult. Once I make the déjà vu connection, people seem to remember it.

Tell that to my iPhone.

When I try to voice dial my wife or my parents (I don't voice dial often, but often enough) I have to say my name incorrectly.

Apparently I am not the only one. Shawn Blanc shared a tip today that made my day. By visiting the Contacts app and entering Edit mode, you can tap on Add Field and then add a phonetic first or last name (or both).

So, for all my fellow De Jabet's out there, I added a phonetic last name of déjà-bay to their address cards. And now voice dial works correctly and even speaks the last name correctly back to me.

If you have me in your iPhone's address book, maybe you should copy and paste déjà-bay as my phonetic last name.