Cédric Beaume

Applied Mathematician

You are in What's his name?

What's his name?

If you are wondering how to pronounce my name, you are not alone. Many people decide to avoid it which leads to funny blanks or dodging attempts ("Hello, Doctor Cédric"!). Many try because they do not have a choice. A few conference chair(wo)men introduced me as "Doctor Bum". Even I seem to get confused when trying to book a table at an Edinburgh restaurant: my original attempt using French certified pronounciation puzzled my interlocutor so much that I sarcastically corrected "Bew-mee" and saw them spelling my name correctly!

The correct standard French pronounciation (from Google Translate) is:

The closest word I can find in English turns out to be "bomb". See for yourself (again, Google Translate):

In fact, the pronounciation of "Beaume" in the south of France (from where I am) happens to be very close to "bomb", the vowel is a little bit shorter and the "m" more percussif. Listen to me say it to convince yourself:

As you may imagine, this can lead to some misunderstanding. The best one to date is the following. In June 2012, I landed at Boston Logan Airport to attend a research program. Upon arriving to the passport control desk, the officer took my passport and asked for my name. I replied "bomb" with my most accurate pronounciation. The officer looked at me, asked me to repeat (which I did, confused) and started to look anxious about a potential threat. He then opened my passport and remained agitated for a few more seconds as he was trying to map my pronounciation to the jumble of letters comprising my name.

My name is not so bad in French. Look:

And if you add the first letter of my first name at the end, it is even better:

Just: don't add it before...

© ~ 2011–2020 ~ Cédric Beaume