The Importance of Pronouncing a Name: An Act of Inclusive Leadership

Published April 2, 2026

In my work as a leadership consultant and partner in executive search, I enter rooms where decisions are made about who leads, who belongs, and who is given the opportunity to shape the future. In these rooms—filled with ambition, strategy, and power—one of the most overlooked signals of respect and inclusion is also the most basic: how we say someone’s name.

Far too often, names are mispronounced, abbreviated without permission, or completely avoided. This happens in meetings, interviews, classrooms, and healthcare settings—and it has real consequences. I’ve met candidates who expect their names to be fumbled, stumbled, or flubbed before they even speak. I’ve worked with leaders who’ve never once been asked how they want their name to be pronounced. The silence around this small but essential detail echoes loudly across a person’s experience of inclusion.

Names as Identity: More Than Just Labels

A name is not just a sound—it’s a form of self-expression. It carries stories of origin, lineage, faith, migration, hope, and survival. Growing up here as an Indo-Guyanese-Canadian settler, my name marks so much of my past—Melissa for helping me to assimilate, Tara for helping me stay connecting to my Indo roots, and Sumnauth that helps me stay grounded in my Guyanese culture. In other cultures, a name may be chosen to honour a grandmother, a deity, or a moment of revolution, it can even mark the exact time of day someone was born. Mispronouncing someone’s name, then, is not a minor but can be a macro diminishment of identity.

Research confirms what many of us know instinctively: the chronic mispronunciation of a name can function as a microaggression. Like misgendering, it undermines a person’s sense of self and reinforces the idea that they must adapt—or shrink—to fit into dominant norms. We see this across institutions:

Correct name pronunciation, then, isn’t about etiquette—it’s about equity.

Leadership and the Risk of Assumptions

As leaders, we must dismantle the assumption that names are optional to get right. When we don’t ask how to pronounce someone’s name—or worse, when we rename them to suit our own convenience—we send a clear message: Your full identity doesn’t belong here.

I have heard accounts of highly qualified candidates being overlooked for roles because hiring committees felt awkward about pronouncing their names. Some worried about saying the name wrong during an interview. Prior to my time at BES, I’ve had folks admit to me that they skipped the candidate entirely to avoid discomfort. That’s not just a missed opportunity—it’s a form of structural bias.

These moments are not isolated, but are part of a broader pattern of how power protects comfort at the expense of inclusion.

Pronunciation as a Practice of Care and Dignity

It’s not about getting it perfect. It’s about making the effort. Each time I walk into a meeting, I ask, “How do I pronounce your name?” That pause—that invitation—matters. It demonstrates humility, respect, and attention to the whole person. It signals that this interaction is not just transactional but relational.

And when we make the mistake, we correct ourselves. We model how to be accountable without defensiveness. We let the other person know: You don’t have to carry the weight of our discomfort. This is about soul-to-soul recognition, not just performance. It’s about treating people as fully human—not as roles to be filled or names to be managed.

Practical Tools for Inclusive Leadership

To shift our environments, we need to normalize some basic practices:

When these actions are modelled by leadership, they set a tone of respect and care. They ripple outward into culture.

It Starts with Intention

The shift we’re talking about doesn’t require new policies or budgets—it requires attention to our intention. It requires us to slow down and ask: What message do I send when I do (or don’t) learn someone’s name? This is especially important in executive search, where we are helping to guide a search process. If we want to find leaders who reflect the diversity of our communities, we must first reflect that same respect in how we speak their names.

Names are sacred. They are declarations of identity, resilience, and belonging. We honour people not just by including them—but by acknowledging them fully, starting with the words we use to call them in.

Further Reading and Resources

Melissa Sumnauth

Partner