One of the most alarming, and off-putting feelings is the realization you’ve been pronouncing someone’s name wrong — and it turns out we’ve all been doing it for years with Travis Etienne Jr. The former Jaguars running back signed with the New Orleans Saints this week, and the Jennings, Louisiana native used part of his introductory press conference to clear the air with his name.
Rather than “E-tee-ENN” as everyone has been pronouncing since, well, forever — the actual pronunciation is “AY-teean.” This makes a ton more sense considering Etienne comes from Creole ancestry, which would have made the original pronunciation much more French-sounding, likely originating from something like “AY-tu-onn.”
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