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Published on September 27, 2007

If you read English literature, you'd be accustomed to all the Elizabeths, Henrys or James. It's the same in Thai literature, where you get familiar with Dang, Dam, Muan or Mak. Names with two syllables or more were reserved for members of well-to-do families.

Now, the list of names seems to be getting longer.

It's not surprising, though, as in just a century the world's population has increased significantly.

Have you ever had a problem pronouncing these new names? Sure you have. It's not unique, though; US President George Bush does, too.

But according to an Agence France-Presse story on Tuesday, help is at hand. Visitors to the United Nations Internet site were able to get a pronunciation guide.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is "sar-KO-zee". Mauritania should be said "moor-EH-tain-ee-a". Kyrgyzstan sounds like "KEYR-geez-stan". And, the capital of Robert "moo-GAH-bee's" Zimbabwe is "hah-RAR-ray".

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said phonetic guidance was common, but curtly rebuffed questions on whether Bush has a hard time with certain names: "I think that's an offensive question. I'm going to just decline to comment on it."

Ironically, one of the hardest names to pronounce, that of Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, was not given its phonetic form. Bush stumbled only briefly before getting it right.

The guide has now been deleted from the UN site, so there's no need to be embarrassed if you're unable to pronounce somebody's name properly.

achara_d@nationgroup.com