Denzel Washington has set the record straight on how to properly say his name, and it turns out most people have been getting it wrong for decades.
The two-time Oscar winner, 70, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, where the host brought up the many NFL players who now share his name.
That led Washington to reveal that his name isn’t actually pronounced “DEN-zel” the way the world knows it, but instead “DEN-zuhl,” with a clipped second syllable.
“This is how you know they named themselves after me,” Washington joked during the interview. “My name is not pronounced Denzel.”
The actor went on to explain how the mix-up started at home.
“My father’s Denzel Hayes Washington Sr. I’m Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. My mother, [Pauletta Washington], would say ‘Denzel,’ and we’d both show up. So she said, ‘From now on, you’re Denzel.’ That’s how we got Denzel.”
Kimmel laughed and responded, “That’s smart.”
The talk show host also pointed out how Washington’s success has influenced baby names over the years.
“There [were] zero [NFL players named Denzel] in 1987,” Kimmel said. “Now there are four, and that number went up after you won your first Oscar in 1990.”
Washington agreed, adding, “I know. There are a lot of Denzels now.”
This isn’t the first time the actor has addressed the long-running mispronunciation.
Back in 2013, he teased Graham Norton about it on The Graham Norton Show, repeating his name both ways while the host tried to confirm the correct version.
And Washington isn’t the only Hollywood star to have this issue.
Just last month, Kirsten Dunst revealed that people have also been saying her name wrong for years, sharing that it should actually be pronounced “Keer-sten.”
Unlike Washington, though, she laughed it off, saying, “I don’t care. You just give up.”
