Raven-Symoné has fans in a tizzy after she revealed the proper way to pronounce her last name. Hint, it does not sound like Simone.
The revelation was shared on TikTok on Jan. 19. “Those who know… KNOW… fit was crazy that day,” Raven casually captioned the post. In the short video, she is seen sitting behind the wheel of her car as a popular audio segment expressing disbelief is played. “Shut up, it is not. No it’s not,” says actress Jennifer Tilly in a scene from “Chucky,” which has become a viral lip-sync dub on the social app. Raven mouths, “Yes it is,” as the clip’s text overlay revealed her name is pronounced, “See-mon-ye.”
Minds were blown, and for some, their childhood memories were shattered. “Sigh. Here we go u never told us this Raven [laughing emoji] how we spose to know this,” asked one person commenting.
“I can’t wrap my head around this. You let this run on for to long. You’re gonna have to change the pronunciation at this point,” wrote another person.
“Raven, WHAT?? Why you let us be loud and wrong for this long,” asked a third individual.
The former “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” actress has been a television star since she was four years old and was part of the cast of “The Cosby Show.” She’s also known for her Disney Channel appearances and starring in the popular series, “That’s So Raven.” As far as the public is concerned, her name has always been pronounced without any attention paid to the accented “e” at the end of Symoné. Now, more than three decades into her career, she dropped an unexpected bomb on fans who are split on how she has said her name in the past.
“The whole time “I’m raven simone and you’re watching Disney Channel” you could have said it right cause how they gon make you say your own name wrong,” wrote one baffled fan.
“When she was drawing her Micky ears she never said Raven Symone, she said: “Hi I’m Raven from that’s so Raven and your watching disney channel,” said one person.
And a third user simply opted out of the ongoing back and forth over her Disney Channel teasers. That person wrote, “The Mandela Effect…. I’m not doing this with y’all lol.”
And for others, the jarring disclosure reminded them of the time a certain Academy Award-winning actor revealed that his name had been mispronounced for more than 40 years.
“You and Denzel have my head spinnin. thank you for setting the record straight though” and “You and Denzel I tell ya lol both of your names are beautiful” were just two of the comments.
In a resurfaced clip of BBC’s “The Graham Norton Show,” Denzel Washington shared that anyone who had been calling him “Den-zelle” was wrong and that in fact, the proper pronunciation is “Den-zil,” just like his father, whom he is named after. His adoring followers spoke out, but mostly to share that they were committed to saying his name wrong.
Another entertainer whose fans were dumbfounded to learn they were saying her name wrong is beauty and fashion mogul Rihanna. The songstress burst onto the scene in the early 2000s when she launched her singing career. Despite pronouncing her name as “Rih-anna” in interviews, she is always referred to as “Rih-anuh.”
For some, Raven’s video brought back the time that person learned how to say the “Pon de Replay” singer’s name. “This is how I felt finding out how Rihanna’s name is actually pronounced,” said one individual.
