Denzel Washington reveals we have been mispronouncing his name for decades

Denzel Washington has shared that we have been commiting a cardinal sin when it comes to his name.

The 70-year-old has just revealed fans have spent his entire career mispronouncing his name in a segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Kimmel was sharing that there have been an uptick in people named Denzel, especially since he won his first Oscar for his film Glory in 1989.

Watch the video above.

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"And this is how you know they named themselves after me," he explained, "because my name's not pronounced Denz-ehl. My name's pronounced Denz-l."

Fans normally emphasise the second "E" in his name like in "gazelle", but in fact it is actually a short "L" sound, like in "able".

Washington shared that the distinction came about as he was named after his father.

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"My mother would say 'Denzel!' and we both show up," he recounted, "So she said from now on you're Denz-ehl... that's how it got pronounced Denz-ehl."

Kimmel went on to explain that since the actor's rise in popularity, there has been a correlating rise in people named after him and his characters.

There are four players in the NFL named Denzel when prior to 1987 – the same year of his first Oscar nomination for Cry Freedom – there were none.

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"I know, there's a lot of Denzels now," the actor acknowledged.

He's not the only star who's admitted to struggles with their name.

Actress Kirsten Dunst recently revealed the world has also been mispronouncing her name.

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"I mean, everyone messes up my name, so I give up. I don't care," the actress, who's been on our screens for 35 years, said in a recent TikTok shared by Town & Country.

The actress said she answers to all versions of her name – including "Kristen" and "Ker-sten" – though "Keer-sten" is the proper pronunciation.

"I don't blame people. Like, in England, they don't really say my name right," Dunst said.

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Even coworkers have gotten it wrong.

"The last set, everyone was saying my name wrong," she said.

"There was, like, Swedish people and people from Hungary. You just give up."

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Title: Denzel Washington reveals we have been mispronouncing his name for decades
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/denzel-washington-name-pronunciation-reveals-fans-saying-wrong/9058471b-35cc-4e05-8d0e-459fc3ebec6a
Published Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2025 04:09:00 GMT