Dieudonne’ is French for “Gift from God,” and he is.
That doesn’t mean, though, that deciphering how to actually say his name is something God made easy for this native English-speaker whose foreign language acumen amounts to a decent grasp of Spanish and just enough Italian to help me get through an amazing vacation without wandering into the wrong restroom.
Dieudonne’ is a magical name, in that dumb Americans like me pronounce what we see nothing like what his parents intended.
DEE-ew-don isn’t right. Not even close.
You think that accent mark at the end will help you? No, it’s not Dee-ew-don-A either.
For about two weeks after we were literally told exactly how to pronounce it, we butchered it.
Jor-DAN-ah.
What is right is so much prettier, so much more elegant, so fitting for this charismatic little swashbuckler who has stolen our hearts.
Jor-dah-NEH. But take that J and make it soft, like you would if you were saying the last G in “garage.”
Jor-dah-NEH.
Gift from God.
Indeed.