Born and raised in Greece, Giannis adopted this official spelling of his name upon receiving Greek citizenship in 2013. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. Giannis was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, and he is the brother of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who also plays professional basketball. Antetokounmpo obtained Nigerian citizenship in 2015. . The differences produce a name that sounds like it isspelled "Adedo-koonbo" and not the more popular pronunciation of "Antay-tu-koompo.". The good news though, is that they probably dont need to worry about pronouncing Giannis Antetokounmpo. All Rights Reserved, {{app['fromLang']['value']}} -> {{app['toLang']['value']}}, Pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO with 20 audio pronunciations. But now that he is an NBA superstar, more people are trying to say his real name, and many people are still getting it wrong. Taking the time to learn a persons name is a bare-minimum show of respect for their family, faith, and identity. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. At the same time, his name has been met with a frustrating flippancy, as if those many letters are an excuse for people not to have learned it at all. Listed at 6 feet and 7 inches, he plays the small forward and power forward positions. For example, the Greek word for goodbye, Although it is undoubtedly the last name that gives people most trouble, the first name also deserves a few comments. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo joined The Daily Show on Monday night, and host Hasan Minhaj gave the NBA champion a chance to roast some of his fellow NBA stars.. (Haitian Creole Resource). The exchange was emblematic of a strange paradox. Giannis played for the Greek youth national team, and he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft. But following Giannis's historic performance in the NBA Finals, I thought that this would be a timely post. You can see this quite clearly in the spelling of a name like "David Beckham", which is spelled in Greek as , the English-letter equivalent of which would be. synergy rv transport pay rate; stephen randolph todd. Antetokounmpos name is so often made into a spectacleteed up as comedic fodder (e.g., a convenient way to embarrass Shaq) and singled out for how many letters it has, how foreign and burdensome it is to say. Although Antetokounmpo has embraced the on-court moniker, he acknowledges that there's difference between his basketball perception and his laid-back personal lifestyle. As a father to his newborn son, Liam, Antetokounmpo has learned how to turn it on and off. It's the first title for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the team's first in 50 years. Its really that simple. Learn GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO pronunciation with video Popular collections Italian Well, given the fact that his Yoruba name has two stop sounds "d" and "b", each of these had to be represented in Greek with a two-letter sequence. It is also true that in native Greek words a word-initial iota before another vowel eventually came to be pronounced as this rumbly "y" as well. We rarely get to see NBA players outside of arenas during the season, but the two-time MVP took the time to appear on The Daily Show on Monday night, with comedian Hasan Minhaj filling in as guest . When you look at it like that, the Greek spelling is actually a direct transliteration of the Yoruba name "adetokunbo" (antetokounmpo) according to normal Greek spelling conventions. Now when this happened, the nasal "n" didn't just fall out without a trace. Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11. Note: Symbols in [brackets] represent IPA characters. Now, linguistically, this just explains the history and the spelling. The Greek Freak is a nickname given to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Nigeria is home to many ethnic groups and languages, including the Yoruba people and language. Well, to answer this, we need to have a little lesson in historical Greek phonology and scribal practices. How do you pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo's last name? He welcomed Antetokounmpo to the court with His last name can make your breath stink and your mouth dry, proffered a few exaggerated, jokey attempts, and then simply introduced him as Giannis. That journey starts in Nigeria, Giannis parents country of origin. We recommend you to try Safari. We can see this illustrated in English with the words rag and rage. Once a name comes into Greek or English or another language, it can have a life of its own. According to Ruocco, both are correct, with the former used when referring toAntetokounmpo in the third person and the latter for when speaking directly to him. Congrats! Forcing the Greek Freak to hoist free throw after free throw may have offered an alternative reality from what the Nets experienced in their 118-104 loss to the . It is not very often that my field, historical Greek phonology, and modern sports culture cross paths. During last summers World Cup, Australian TV anchor Lucy Zeli was criticized for pronouncing players ethnic names correctly, a refusal to anglicize that some viewers saw as obnoxious overpronunciation. Stay up to date with what you want to know. So whenAntetokounmpo was featured on the big stage during the 2016-17 NBA playoffs, some were perplexed when they heard the correct pronunciation for the first time. On opening night of the current season, the NBA had more than 100 active players who were born outside the U.S. Gianni, the Italian form of Johnny, has gotten popular in the US, and there's a good chance Giannis will be next, thanks to rising star basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is Greek. Log in or Register We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. You can try again. His parents are Nigerian immigrants who moved to Greece in the 1980s. Now remember what we said earlier about Greek not having any single letters to represent the sounds "b" "g" "d" after Greek shifted to the fricatives "v" "" ""? ", Giannis unsure of 'Greek Freak' roots but loves it, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West, V. Bryant settles crash photos suit for $28.85M, Sources: Lakers to reassess LeBron in 2 weeks, Irving: Need to scale back self-imposed pressure, Jokic sixth player in 100 career triple-double club, Driven Giannis 'OK' if people take him for granted, Durant to debut for Suns on Wed. vs. Hornets, Pels say injured Zion progressing, set for imaging, What NBA Finals runs from LeBron, Giannis can teach Jayson Tatum, Meet the man scouring Nigeria for the next generation of NBA and NFL talent, Roundtable: Early takeaways from Kyrie Irving joining Luka Doncic in Dallas, Hacking of Giannis' accounts being investigated. Most settled on pronouncing the name the way it is spelled which, by the way, is a challenge in and of itself. In Greek of today, for example, the nasal "n" would have a tendency to weaken or fall out entirely before the final stop sound. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been one of the most consistent players in the NBA over the last.. {{app.userTrophy[app.userTrophyNo].hints}}. At 611 he has the size of a traditional center, but the skills of a guard. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best basketball players in the world. Since you have exceeded your time limit, your recording has been stopped. The name of the reigning MVP is a veritable minefield for English-speaking NBA fans seeking to master the original language pronunciation. Giannis Antetokounmpo is pronounced YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh in Greek. (Antetokounmpo became Giannis' surname after it was spelled that way on his Greek passport instead of his birth name of Adetokunbo.) To pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo, say YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOOM-boh. This resulted in a pronunciation like yah-nees. Bucks general manager Jon Horst was another guest on Connaughton's radiothon to raise funds for COVID-19 relief. Congrats! When Jews started encountering the Greek language in Judea-Palestine during the Hellenistic period (4th c. BCE1st c. BCE), they would sometimes "Greek-ify" their names when they interacted with Greeks. It also allows fans to more easily communicate with him and follow his career. Even within Greek, note that the sequence exhibits some variation, it can be pronounced as "nd" (in slower speech or in certain contexts or among certain speakers) or even as a simple "d" (in certain contexts, among certain speakers, etc.). As a matter of fact, both Gianni and Giannis are the equivalent of Johnny (being nicknames of Giovanni and Ioannes respectively, both of which are equivalent to John). We immediately encounter an issue in pronouncing the very first letter in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as the "Greek Freak," is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall and weighs 242 pounds (110 kg). One name strikes fear in the heart of announcers. For example, this event with Nike, or tomorrow you've got to do this event with T-Mobile," Antetokounmpo told Connaughton. Greek also lacks a character that represents the [b] sound. Given the international background of many of the players, one of the most constant reminders of the leagues linguistic diversity is the variety of exotic names that have become household names. While they may have felt ESPN's Ryan Ruocco was saying it wrong during the playoffs, he was much closer than most. Lastly, say the word toupee with a soft p sound. "The difference is that the T is actually pronounced as a D and the P in the end is actually a B," Ruocco told Le Batard. In the past year, teams have played games in China, London, and Mexico City, with two preseason games in Mumbai planned for October. Your email address will not be published. Athanasios Rotimi "Thanasis" Antetokounmpo (born Adetokunbo; July 18, 1992) is a Greek-Nigerian professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Can you pronounce Giannis last name? Kenny Smith dared his Inside the NBA co-host Shaquille ONeal last week, during TNTs coverage of the 2019 All-Star Game draft. You can try again. His last name is Nigerian, so the "t"s in his name should be pronounced as "d"s. This would make the pronunciation of Antetokounmpo AH-ded-KOOM-poh. Word of the day - in your inbox every day, 2023 HowToPronounce. No, Antetokounmpo told him with a weary smile, it wasnt right. Theres so much to find remarkable about the Milwaukee Bucks transcendent 24-year-old power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo: his impossibly long stride; his invincibility in transition; the fact that even as a leading MVP candidate and three-time All-Star, hes only just entering his prime. "I have complete confidence that if there's a way for us to return to basketball, return to play, in a healthy and safe manner, for our players and for the public and people that would be involved, that our league will figure out how to do it," Horst said. Giannis Antetokounmpo is originally from Greece and his name is pronounced yah-NEEs ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh. Giannis has two older brothers, Thanasis and Kostas, who also play professional basketball. Can you pronounce Antetokounmpo? So, it is represented with the letter combination . Look no further than here for a few examples of some pronunciations of the name: While Giannis tends to be quite gracious about mispronunciations of his name, the Finals MVP and his heritage are worthy of the respect shown by putting in a little effort to learn about his name. Giannis surname is pronounced AHN-teh-toh-KOON-boh. And once someone has taken the time to teach you their name (or in Giannis case, offered multiple correct options), dont ignore them or flat-out refuse to try. (John Henson left out a syllable, which Ersan Ilyasova made up for about nine times over.). The letter combination < nt > information on a device, who also plays professional basketball name comes Greek. 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