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What is the "correct" pronunciation of Robin Hartshorne's last name? Mostly I hear it pronounced "Har-shorn" although I've also heard "Harts-orn" and maybe a few other variations.

edited Apr 4 2010 at 5:25

Jonas Meyer
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asked Apr 4 2010 at 4:49

Beren Sanders
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Here are two similar questions, to which we might want to apply the same standards: mathoverflow.net/questions/4381/…, mathoverflow.net/questions/4394/… – Jonas Meyer Apr 4 2010 at 5:24

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I pity the poor devils with unpronounceable names... – Georges Elencwajg Apr 4 2010 at 9:10

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I'm with Georges on this. – Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson Apr 4 2010 at 17:56

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I was once told, "'Hart-shorn' is the book, 'Harts-horn' is the person." – Jonathan Wise Apr 4 2010 at 21:17

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The poor devils could follow Kiran Kedlaya's example: mit.edu/~kedlaya/about-my-name.html – Greg Marks Jul 30 2011 at 21:09

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Will Jagy · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-04 05:00:06Z UTC

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He prefers it be pronounced as in Hart's Horn. I asked him a few years ago, our brief common ground being assisting Marvin Jay Greenberg with revisions for the fourth edition of his book on Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry. That is not to say that I have ever heard anyone else say it that way. But then few people get my name right.

answered Apr 4 2010 at 5:00

Will Jagy
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How is Jagy pronounced? – Jonas Meyer Apr 4 2010 at 5:03

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As it happens, I asked Robin the same qustion a few weeks ago and he replied: "think of hart's horn (it means the horn of a deer)" – Dror Speiser Apr 4 2010 at 10:57

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(So is Figueroa, by the way.) – José Figueroa-O'Farrill Apr 4 2010 at 16:07

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BTW, my given name is Robert Lewis; people call me Bob Lewis. That's "B" as in Banach, "o" as in "operator", "L" as in "Labochevsky", an "ew" diphthong pronounced generally as the "u" in "grand *U*-nified theory, "i" as in "integral" and "s" as in "simplex". Any questions? – drbobmeister Jan 10 2011 at 17:18

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I am German and I have the impression that people in Germany usually pronounce it Hart-shorn. – Lennart Meier Sep 9 2011 at 10:04

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How do you pronounce “Hartshorne”?

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