The Top-10 Most Easily Mispronounced names in Arizona

In December of 2023, I made a huge change. I packed up everything I owned and moved away from everything I had ever known to come to the deserts of Arizona. I haven't regretted that choice so far, and I likely won't any time in the near future.

The biggest issue I had wasn't the elevation, dryness, or heat, it was attempting to pronounce names of several locations across the state.

I didn't expect the change to rattle me like it did. Two of Arizona's largest cultures are Native American and Hispanic, the same as my former home of the Sunshine State. I figured that, since I had no trouble with town or location names in Florida, learning the Arizona geography and cities would be a breeze.

I was so wrong.

Almost every name I was confronted with, I would pronounce completely, confidently wrong. No matter what the location was, I was sure to disappoint everyone in the room.

What was I to do? As a morning show host, I had to be able to confidently say the correct names of places live on the air every day, so, I began to ask around.

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Any locals that would lend me an ear began to be caught up in a curious frenzy as I tried to figure out the names and pronunciations of all of Arizona's notable points.

As fun as that was, most newcomers (and locals for that matter) want to quickly and quietly correct themselves, so I've compiled a list of the top ten locations I had trouble pronouncing, so now you won't either.