CAM-el-uh. KUH-mahl-uh. Karmel-UH. None of these are correct. Kamala Harris is no stranger to having her name mispronounced.
The US Vice President is currently in the final hours of campaigning for the 2024 US Presidential Election, and the world is just days away from finding out who has won: Democratic nominee Harris, or rival Donald Trump.
Whichever candidate takes on the presidency will have a long to-do list once they’re in office, and for Harris one of the tasks may well be getting people to pronounce her name correctly.
During an appearance on comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live last week, she appeared to poke fun at the mispronunciations of her name.
Comedian Maya Rudolph was portraying Harris on the show, before the real-life Vice President appeared opposite her.
‘Take my palm-ala,’ Rudolph said as she took Harris’ hand. ‘The American people want to stop the chaos and end the dram-ala with a cool new step-mamala. Kick back in our pajam-alas and watch a rom-com-ala.’
Harris suggested ‘Legally Blond-ala’, before the pair said in unison: ‘Keep Calm-ala and Carry On-ala.’
How to pronounce Kamala
When Harris ran for the US Senate in 2016, she shared a campaign video on then Twitter that showed children showing how to properly say her first name.
‘It’s not CAM-EL-UH. It’s not KUH-MAHL-UH. It’s not KARMEL-UH,’ they explained.
It is ‘COM-mah-la,’ with emphasis on the first syllable.
When pronounced correctly, the vice president’s name sounds like comma-la.
The video started doing the rounds on social media again in July after almost half of the speakers who used her first name at the Republican National Convention got it wrong.
Whether on purpose or not, mispronouncing Harris’ name is often seen as a sign of disrespect.
Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue went a step further, openly mocking her name by likening it to the Spanish phrase ‘que mala’, translating to ‘so bad’.
Chris Sununu, New Hampshire’s governor, was questioned by a Politico reporter, who asked if he was mispronouncing Harris’ name deliberately.
Journalist Eugene Daniels said: ‘I hear Republicans often mispronouncing vice president Kamala Harris’ name.
‘You have done it a few times. Is it a tactic? Or is it just a tough name to pronounce?’
Sununu was seen looking visibly taken aback at the suggestion before asserting it was a mistake.
‘If I’m pronouncing her name wrong, I apologize,’ he said. ‘I say Kuh-MAL-a Harris I am honestly telling you I would not disrespect someone by pronouncing their name wrong.’
Daniels took the opportunity to educate Sununu telling him, ‘Comma-la. Comma-la. Comma-la. Do not apologise to me – it is not my name.’
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