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Every so often, Rihanna tries to tell people how to pronounce her name, since everyone has been doing it wrong since she became famous. It is 'Ree-Anna' not 'Ree-Ah-Na,' she says. And it just doesn't sink in.
Her latest instance of setting the record straight was on May 22, when she introduced herself in a British Vogue video, and a fan on Twitter pointed out that hey guys, Rihanna just subtly let everyone know that we've been saying her name wrong. Buzzfeed picked the viral tweet up, noting that some British people are insisting they always said her name right, and it's just an American problem. Yeah, sure, Jan.
Some Americans have gotten it right, in part because Rihanna has been instructing them on how to say her name for years. The first time she was documented doing so was in 2012, so seven years ago. She was doing a red carpet interview with AJ Hammer at the time, whose 'big question' was how to pronounce her name. He mentioned that she introduced herself as 'Ree-Anna.' RiRi confirmed that yeah, that's how her name is pronounced. 'I knew this was the question,' she told him. 'It is Ree-Anna.'
A couple years went by, some of the world still got it wrong, and in 2015, Rihanna gave her own tutorial on how to pronounce her name to her millions of Instagram followers. She plugged her Snapchat to a friend on camera who pronounced her name as 'Ree-Ah-Na.' She sassily replied, 'It's Ree-Anna, follow me [on Snapchat].' (Rihanna has since gotten off of Snapchat following the app's controversy with its insensitive 'Slap Rihanna vs Punch Chris Brown' ad). Will the world get her name right now that Rihanna has corrected everyone three times? Well, maybe more of it will.
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Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
