Thomas Jefferson University Mispronounces Names, Apologizes

A Philadelphia university issued an apology to students and families after badly mispronouncing dozens of students' names during a commencement ceremony last week.

Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia; a file photo of a graduate.
Photo Credit: *Google Maps (Street View)/Inset: Unsplash/Charles DeLoye*

Mac Bullock

05/15/2024 2:57 p.m.

Video from the May 10 graduation for the Thomas Jefferson University's College of Nursing showed a presenter botch commonplace names as students walked the stage.

"Stephanie" was read out as "Ee-foony," while "Thomas" became "Toh-moo-may" and "Sarah Virginia" "Sair Oo-voo," to the crowd's audible confusion.

Video from the graduation ceremony racked up hundreds of thousands of likes on TikTok.

University administrators later explained that the presenter was handed a list with phonetic spellings for each name, a move to avoid mispronunciations that ended up backfiring.

"The mispronunciations occurred due to the way phonetic spellings were presented on the speaker's cards, which was noted when the presenter apologized during the ceremony," TJU said in a statement that afternoon.

"This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments."

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