Siri, which is available on all the best iPhones, (not to mention plenty other Apple and other branded devices) is pretty good at pronouncing names correctly. But there are times when the voice assistant just doesn’t get it right. There are also individuals with unique first and last names, or who adopt unconventional pronunciations for their monikers.

Maybe Siri is consistently calling your friend Brianna “Bre-ann-ah” instead of the way she prefers, which is “Bree-ah-na.” Or maybe your colleague Marcia is always identified as “Mar-sha” instead of “Mar-cee-ah,” which is her actual name. You can correct the virtual assistant so that going forward, it pronounces names the right way for each of your individual contacts.

How to teach Siri how to properly pronounce names

  1. Open the Contacts app on iPhone.
  2. Search for the Contact you want to change a pronunciation for, or scroll down the alphabetical list to find them and Select.
  3. Tap Edit.
  4. Scroll down to Notes and select Add Field.
  5. Select Pronunciation first name, Pronunciation middle name, or Pronunciation last name, depending for which name you need to correct Siri’s pronunciation.
  6. You’ll see the field now appear in their contact, under their name. Tap and enter the proper pronunciation (you can also choose the standard phonetic spelling if that is correct from the previous menu). In the case of this example, using a fake contact name added to my device, I added “Ree-Gan” so she’d pronounce the surname this way instead of “Rey-Gehn.”
  7. Tap Done.

Now, whenever you ask to call the person or they call or message you on your new iPhone, like the iPhone 14, their name will be pronounced correctly. It’s a small detail, but one that both you and the person will appreciate.

It’s worth reiterating that despite Siri being deemed a dumb assistant compared to some others out there, when it comes to pronouncing names, Siri does a fairly accurate job most of the time. But for the times when the voice assistant makes an incorrect guess, particularly with names that originate from a country other than your own as well as unique names or unique spellings and pronunciations of names, she can use some guidance. And it’s very easy for you to give it to her.