iOS 7's Siri Can Learn How to Pronounce Names - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

iOS 7's Siri Can Learn How to Pronounce Names

by

Shortly before today's iOS 7 Beta 2 was released, one of 9to5Mac's readers found that iOS 7's Siri has the ability to correct pronunciations for names.

siripronunciationImage via 9to5Mac

Previously, getting Siri to properly pronounce names required a user to edit the "phonetic name" for a contact and manually adjust the spelling until Siri pronounced the name the correct way. Now, as 9to5Mac notes, a user can simply say "pronounce [insert name here]" to put Siri through a simpler name pronunciation learning process.

Within that process, Siri will ask the user to pronounce the name and then present a couple of pronunciations based on how it heard the user. The user is then prompted to select a pronunciation, which Siri will from then on attempt to use when saying the name in question.

While the feature was in iOS 7 Beta 1, it's unknown at this point whether there have been improvements in the recently released Beta 2.

Related Forum: iOS 7

Top Rated Comments

BillyBobBongo Avatar
166 months ago
Previously, getting Siri to properly pronounce names required a user to edit the "phonetic name" for a contact and manually adjust the spelling until Siri pronounced the name the correct way. Now, as 9to5Mac notes, a user can simply say "pronounce [insert name here]" to put Siri through a simpler name pronunciation learning process.
You can do this in IOS6 too...
Sometimes it helps to read the article.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
166 months ago
Yes..

Siri has been learning a lot lately.. but she tends to mumble and sometimes she says off the wall things that don't make since.

Image (https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/995045_4324477810309_2011489989_n.jpg)

Oh, the irony!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
caligomez Avatar
166 months ago
What Siri desperately needs is a way to differentiate one language from another without having to strictly accept one at a time. There are many bilingual countries (and users) that have have to constantly use different language words in the same sentence.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
166 months ago
Siri totally fails at Asian names. This is going to be real useful when I go handsfree.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alia Avatar
166 months ago
This is great news! One reason Siri irks me is that she can't pronounce my name at all, and it grates.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Drunken Master Avatar
166 months ago
Right...

I live in Taiwan, trust me, 王 is 王.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
HomePod mini and Apple TV Sage

New Apple TV and HomePod Mini Remain 'Ready' to Launch

Sunday March 22, 2026 6:33 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Related Apple News: Entertainment | Politics | Ipad | Opinion | Ipad