When it comes to pronunciation, Siri is generally pretty good. While Apple’s assistant doesn’t always sound like a real person when it responds to your every command, it does sound close. That is, until it completely butchers your name.
Don’t worry, though, because you can fix this problem and get Siri pronouncing your name correctly in no time.
Change How Siri Pronounces a Name in the Contacts app
Siri can do a lot of things, but sometimes it needs help with pronunciation. In order for Siri to pronounce your name, or another contact’s name, correctly, you will need to add the pronunciation field in Contacts.
To get started, open the Contacts app and find the person you want to add a proper pronunciation for (whether that’s you or someone else). Once you open the relevant contact car, tap Edit in the top right-hand corner.
Then, scroll down and tap add field, then add a Pronunciation field. You will see an option to add the proper pronunciation for the first or last name. Tap your desired choice. Then, add the proper pronunciation.
The Pronunciation field works using phonetic spelling. Phonetic spelling means spelling out a word how it sounds. For example, “phonetics” would be spelled “fo-ne-ticks.” Alternatively, you can use a phonetic spelling generator to generate a name in the phonetic alphabet.
Once added, tap Done in the top right-hand corner to save it. Siri will then start pronouncing the name as you entered it.
Why Does Siri Get Names Wrong?
Siri is a great tool that seems to know almost everything, but even Siri can make mistakes. This is why Siri sometimes relies on us to help it out. As it continues to learn, it will make fewer mistakes.
As more Siri updates come out, it’s possible you won’t even need to tell Siri how to pronounce someone’s name in the future. But for now, having it pronounce your name correctly can make your interactions with Siri more enjoyable.