Genii Weblog

Pronouncing Langhinrichs

Thu 19 Aug 2004, 09:16 AM



by Ben Langhinrichs
OK, two people responding to my post last night have insinuated that perhaps my last name is a bit difficult to pronounce.  I admit, I have sympathy, because I had to learn to pronounce this name too, and not as a child.  I took my wife's name when we got married (I used to be Ben Lewis), but I had to learn to pronounce it three years earlier when we were in college together.  It is really quite simple... if you don't look at the name too closely.

Lang HEN rix

That is the basic pronunciation for Langhinrichs.

Lang rhymes with "fang", and is usually the easy part.  

hin is pronounced "hen", like the female chicken.  The emphasis is heavily on this middle syllable (why it is in caps above).

richs is pronounced "rix", which rhymes with fix or sticks.  There is no 'd', so it is not like Hendrix.  It is not two syllables, likes the word "riches".

So, now you know.  It might come in handy if my daughter eventually succeeds in her goal of becoming President of the United States.

Copyright © 2004 Genii Software Ltd.

What has been said:


200.1. Christopher Byrne (08/19/2004 07:05 AM)

Heck, I have a hard enough time spelling it, much less pronouncing it. That's why I always refer to you as Ben L. or Ben the Midas Guy:-).


200.2. Rob McDonagh (08/19/2004 09:03 AM)

Ahh. Yep, been saying it wrong the whole time. I had the emphasis on the first syllable for some reason. So the "H" in 'hen' is pronounced strongly, then, not almost disappearing between the "g" and "e"? Which would mean I've been making two mistakes, 'cause I had it more like: LANG-en-rix. I'll try to get it right - enough people pronounce my name wrong (it doesn't look that hard to me, but then I'm Irish-American) that I try not to return the favor...


200.3. Ben Langhinrichs (08/19/2004 09:05 AM)

You've got it now. The way you were saying it is how the ABC people pronounced it as well. Oh well, now I have a place to link to when anybody is confused. grin.


200.4. jonvon (08/19/2004 10:38 AM)

wow ben. you are one interesting guy. you might even be two! maybe we should start calling you benii.

ben-ee-ai lang-hen-rix.


200.5. Christopher Byrne (08/19/2004 11:38 AM)

You mean it is not pronounced

geen-ee?

ughhh...

My brother-in-law and nephew take Peter Jennings out fishing when he goes to St. Lucia...maybe they can get the Canadian pronunciation.

You need to burn the show to DVD to share in your presentations (or at least tell us about it before it airs:-) )


200.6. Michael Woehrer (28.08.2004 11:17)

Thanks, Ben, for making it clear. My native language is German, so it was double-hard for me to find out how to pronounce your last name :-) But finally, now I know how to pronounce it - due to your excellent explanation :)


200.7. bonj (09/16/2004 07:54 AM)

I have a hard enough time remembering names, let alone trying to pronounce them. Do you think when your daughter runs for office she might consider changing her last name to Lewis for a while, just to help those of us that are name challenged? :-)

A lot of people see Bonj and often say bon jay (2 syllable), when it is more of a bonjuh (1 syllable). Oh well.