Mariska Hargitay has clarified exactly how her name is supposed to be pronounced.
During Tuesday’s episode of the Good Hang podcast hosted by Amy Poehler, the Law & Order actor opened up about the heritage of her name and how some family members even pronounce it wrong.
“In Hungarian, the ‘ka’ or ‘ke’ at the end of the name is just like a little endearment,” she said, adding that the name is a nickname for Maria and translates to “Little Maria.”
“So the name is actually ‘Maria’ after my grandmother, both of them, Hungarian and Italian.”
According to the actor, her name is pronounced “Muh-rish-kuh.” She still struggles with others not saying it correctly.
“Who was it last night? I had a lunch yesterday for my sister and my cousin was there,” she said, recalling a family member not pronouncing her name correctly.
“Your own cousin?” Poehler said, to which Hargitay replied, “I’ve known him since 1994 and he kept calling me ‘Muh-ris-kuh.’”
The activist thought about speaking up at the time to correct her cousin, but she ultimately decided to just “let it go.”
Aside from family members, Hargitay said she has also had to correct people on the Law & Order set about how to say her name, and went as far as writing her name as “Marishhhhka” on the call sheet.
“I get called ‘Muh-ritz-uh,’ ‘Mar-see-kuh,’ ‘Mar-kis-kuh,’” she said, adding that her co-stars will sometimes use the wrong pronunciation on purpose just to upset her.
Hargitay is not the only actor to have to specify how to pronounce their name. Last year, Florence Pugh was promoting a movie alongside Andrew Garfield in a Wired Autocomplete interview. One of the most Googled questions about Pugh was people wondering how to correctly say her last name.
“Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew,” she immediately said as she made finger guns to imitate where the sound was coming from. “Or, like a pew, like a church pew.”
However, Garfield was convinced that the pronunciation wasn’t completely accurate as he asked her, “How do you really pronounce it though?”
“Pugh,” the Midsommar star responded, giving a third comparison to her name as she added, “Yeah, it’s Hugh but with a P.”
“Be honest, finally,” Garfield continued. “Alright, it’s pudge,” the actress responded while laughing.
In 2024, Timothée Chalamet also provided his explanation on how to pronounce his name during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“Honestly, it’s ‘Tim-oh-teh,’” Chalamet shared. “But I would not oblige you to say it like that and it can be Timothy or Timmy or Doug or Allen.”
“It’s ‘Tim-oh-teh?’” Kimmel asked.
“That’s what it was supposed to be – my parents cursed me with that,” the actor responded.
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