The biggest stories of 2025 didn't just dominate headlines—they also tied tongues. A new annual list reveals that the names and places making news this year, from a historic political victory to a high-profile European theft, proved exceptionally challenging for many to say correctly.
Political Rise and Linguistic Stumbles
Language-learning platform Babbel, in collaboration with The Captioning Group, released its compilation of the year's most commonly mispronounced words on Thursday 04 December 2025. The list, drawn from the frequent stumbles of news anchors, politicians, and other public figures in the U.S., offers a unique linguistic snapshot of the year's defining events.
Topping the list is Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist elected as New York City's incoming mayor. As his political star rose, so did the frequency of mispronunciations of his name. The correct pronunciation is zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee. Babbel noted the most common error involves swapping the "M" and "N" in his surname. Mamdani, who will become the city's first Muslim mayor, first born in Africa, and first of South Asian heritage when he takes office in January, has shown patience with genuine attempts. However, he called out intentional mispronunciations, notably correcting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a debate by spelling it out: "M-A-M-D-A-N-I."
Cultural Icons and Pharmaceutical Tongue-Twisters
Another major entry is the Louvre. The October theft of France's crown jewels from the world's most-visited museum had countless people grappling with its name. For English speakers, the correct LOOV-ruh, with a very soft "ruh," presents a distinct challenge.
"A lot of these words come from different languages and so we have to adapt to a sound that we've never made before," explained Esteban Touma, a linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel.
The list features several other notorious names from the year's news cycle:
- Acetaminophen (uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen): The active ingredient in Tylenol gained infamy after former President Donald Trump stumbled over it while controversially advising pregnant women against its use.
- Alex Murdaugh (AL-ick MUR-dock): The disgraced South Carolina attorney, sentenced to life for murdering his wife and son, saw his case dramatised in a Hulu series this year.
- Mounjaro (mown-JAHR-OH): This diabetes and obesity medication surged in popularity, bringing its brand name into common—and often mispronounced—parlance.
A Cross-Atlantic Pronunciation Challenge
The pronunciation struggles were not confined to the United States. Babbel and the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters found several overlaps in a separate UK list, including Louvre and Mounjaro. The UK list also featured Storm Éowyn (ay-OH-win), which battered Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in January, thanks to its distinctive three-beat pattern.
The list is compiled throughout the year as professional captioners and subtitlers note words that are consistently problematic to pronounce or spell, or that are newly emerging. Babbel's linguists also track these evolving challenges.
In a charming pronunciation revelation of the year, actor Denzel Washington shared on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show that his family's intended pronunciation was DEN-zul. The now-iconic Den-ZELLE was an adaptation his mother made to avoid confusion, cementing a Hollywood name that, for once, everyone seems to get right.
