Is it common that people pronounce "Juan" with the letter "J"?

I lived in the US and learned English there, never heard anyone pronounce it with a J.

We mispronounce it, but never with a hard J, more like "Wahn"

As a US-American, I would never expect someone to pronounce it with a hard J, no. Not sure if it would be different in other anglosphere cultures but id doubt it

Nope! That would be John

The name "Juan" is pronounced as "Hwan" (at least in American English). The only time I could ever imagine someone saying it with a "j" sound (/dʒ/) would be if they were reading the word and didn't recognize it.

Your question’s been answered but just wanted to point out because you said “in places other than Spain”: there are over 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide and less than 50 million of those are in Spain. Spanish is a global language that most people in the English speaking world have had at least some contact with. There are probably some Spanish words that are pronounced differently among English speakers, but common names like Juan are not among them. In the US you are generally required to take at least several years of Spanish in school.

In the US, it always Juan and never Hwan, which is a separate name altogether. Even if someone doesn't speak Spanish, they still use names like Juan correctly.  You might see people in movies calling someone with the name Jesus (the Spanish name) with the divine name but this is played for laughs. I think everyone knows how the Spanish J works.

Most Americans would pronounce it with an 'h' sound, which is the closest sound to Spanish 'j' in English, albeit not actually the same sound.

Some people definitely would - until the person corrected them. It depends rather if they know anything about Spanish pronunciation, and if they've come across similar words before. In the same way, Spanish people may say English names incorrectly - such as Stephen as steffan, or the final e on Charlotte, or not knowing that Sean sounds like Shawn.

Juan is a Spanish (not only) version of John In Spanish j is pronounced like h

Pretty much every English speaker at least attempts to pronounce Juan "Spanish-ly". There are many other Spanish names where an attempt is not even made.

No—in the US and have never heard that. However, if you’re listening to spoken English, note that the name “Juwan”, used largely in the US among African Americans, sounds exactly like “Juan” with a hard J (and likewise is the equivalent of “John”).

Don J-Ewan triumphant!

Not unless they've never had any exposure to the Spanish language before

We try to pronounce names as their owners pronounce them.

I live in the US. No one pronounces it with the "J" sound.

English speakers tend to have awareness of Spanish pronunciation, at least in the US. It’s to the point that Americans often read foreign words from all over as though they were Spanish. Americans would always pronounce Juan as either Whahn /ʍɑn/ or Wahn /wɑn/. I can’t speak to other parts of the world.

I knew exactly one person who pronounced his name Joo-ahn. He was a Black American.

I know a South African guy whose name is spelt Juan but he says it’s pronounced like John.

It is a Spanish name, so you go with the Spanish pronunciation.

Generally, no, most people get Juan right. But I once worked with a woman from the upper Midwest who had relocated to Texas and was completely bamboozled by the name Juanita. Just could not get it right.

Funnily enough, Juan is also a somewhat common Chinese name, and the J would be pronounced as /tɕ/ in Mandarin.

No, only small children would mispronounce it that way, in much the same way that they might mispronounce the word 'heirloom' as "hair loom." Then everyone would laugh, not unkindly, and the child would be corrected.

I've never heard of that here in the US. Granted, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the country and has a high degree of visibility here, so I don't know how well that maps to other English-speaking places (though I assume this is also the case in Canada due to proximity).

It's a common enough name that people know how to pronounce it. At most, maybe a young child may say it wrong if they've never seen it.

It's a common enough name that people know how to pronounce it. At most, maybe a young child may say it wrong if they've never seen it.

My understanding ( with a few Brazilian patients--not a large sample, I admit) the J is pronounced, but voiced -- almost like a "zh".

I think that most people recognize it as a Spanish-language name and pronounce it as "wan" or "hwan." The only exception I know of is Lord Byron's long poem *Don Juan*, in which the name is pronounced "Joo-un." (I believe Byron knew better and did it that way for comedic effect.)

Not really, I think most people by a certain age will have heard that name and been exposed to the fact that J in Spanish is not pronounced like an English J.

In the 1800s UK, they did say it with a J sound. Lord Byron's *Don Juan* was actually pronounced "Don Joo-un".

The poem "Don Juan" by George Gordon, Lord Byron is typically pronounced "JOO-an," because at one point the name is rhymed with "true one." Other than that specific case, though, I've never heard it pronounced that way.

>In places other than Spain, do people pronounce it as "Juan" instead of "Hwan"? in North America, most of our Spanish language exposure comes from Latin America. Millions of Spanish speakers live in the US. Juan is a very common Spanish language name that pretty much every American English speaker would recognize and pronounce with the "H" sound.

It depends on which part of the US. In the Southwestern US I hear it pronounced as it should be, but I have heard Americans from the northern US and parts of the US say it with a hard J.

Not in the US or Canada

sure, in chinese pinyin, it is pronunced start with J

I’m in the UK, we pronounce as ‘Huan’

In America, Juan is a common latino name. But rarely used outside of that context. So it is pronounce with an h sound the way latinos pronounce it. The English equivalent to Juan is John. We pronounce John with the j sound.

No

Canada here. I would pronounce it as "wan." I've never heard it pronounced with a "j" sound

Juan is one of the most common Hispanic names. Most people with even the minimum exposure of Spanish should know to pronounce it like it’s supposed to in Spanish. “J” (jota) in Spanish is pronounced like an English H or Arabic خ [h~x] or somewhere in between depending on accent. Remember that Spanish is spoken in more than 20 countries. The problem is that in American English, the combination of the consonants [hw] in English words are considered “antique”, hwich is hwy most of us don’t pronounce the word “what” as \hwat\ anymore (wine-whine merger). So in effect, when attempting to pronounce foreign names with the sequence /hw/ like Juanita, Seonghwa 성화, Hui Yi (惠仪) unless they may a conscious attempt to pronounce the [h] part, it may be rendered as silent. While words like “mojito” may be pronounced with a Spanish J, as well as “jalapeño” (although the problem is usually with the “peño” part).

Spanish loanwords, including names like Juan and Jose, will always pronounce the J as an H. Everyone is familiar with it, thanks to jalapeños. We may butcher a few things (sometimes we go too weak on the J, and Juan ends up sounding a little bit more like Waan) but we certainly won’t be pronouncing the J as an English J sound, that part is certain.

I don’t know about the name Juan all that much; however, I know that one of the things about UK news sources that use to annoy me was that they would Junta with a hard “J” sound and not an approximation of Spanish Junta (as Hunta). I also still see some UK cooking programming talk about jalapeño peppers with a “j” sound not an “h” sound.

As said in other comments, Juan is pronounced “Hwan”, is it is pronounced is Spanish. It is common for lots of words, and especially names, to be pronounced as from their language of origin. Sean is another tricky name, pronounced “Shawn”, similarly to the Irish name Seán. English pronunciation is a nightmare, and even native speakers commonly struggle, so don’t feel bad having to ask, even multiple times, how to pronounce a new word.

I would say that I only know it with J, but Google says that it is pronounced Hwan in Germany. (Or Google actually says chuu-an, but I think that is what hwan means) I never heard that.

If you’re 10 years old, it’s 1990, and you sit next to me in summer school it is.

"One". I learned this from breaking bad

It’s very uncommon, in fact the only time i’ve ever come across it was a friend of mine at school whose name was pronounced Joo-un. Everyone thought it was weird but tolerated it, with the exception of one of the teachers who relentless teased him for it. Not the nicest school. I have, however, heard many English people say “Wan” rather than attempt any kind of J or H sound. I worked with a Spanish Juan once and our boss’s pronunciation sounded like he was saying the number One. So we leaned into it and i used to call him Uno. Us Brits can’t be trusted.

If you were to pronounce Juan (or for that matter jalapeño, Jiménez, etc) with a ʤ (j sound) instead of an h sound you're gonna get corrected/laughed at

No, English speaking countries like the USA pronounce it Hwan or sometimes Wan

Jwan?

In the UK we hear Juan (rather than "Hwan" or "Wan"), but that might be where we've got the \*Manx\* derivation of the name, not the Spanish one.

In Australia, you're most likely to get Wahn or possibly even Ju-ahn. We don't have the familiarity with Spanish that there is in the US.

No. I've never heard anyone mispronounce it before with a hard j. It's been around so most everyone knows how it's pronounced. If you picked a more rare Spanish name, you might get that.

Of cause people do, letters in the Latin alphabet is pronounced differently in different languages so names are like wise pronounced and or spelled differently. Now a days with immigration and internalization we have Marie, Maria and Mary and its the same name :) If you are not familiar with a name or a words origin the you of cause pronounce it in you own tongue. I'm curious how a Spanish speaker would pronounce Johanne (Yohanne) or Jalte :)))

We don't really use "Juan" in English, except as a Spanish name. 🙂 Our version of the same biblical name is "John".

I know a Juan who actually pronounces his name with the J. (He is not from a Spanish speaking country)

what do you mean "in places other than spain?"  Juan is pronounced "hwan" in spain too

I've never known anyone to get Juan wrong (UK) but Joaquin trips people up.

I live in northeast USA I’ve never heard it pronounced with a J

Some do, especially in the North where it’s a less common name. In the Southwest everyone knows the J is an H sound.

How do you pronounce Jean?

English is only my second language and Spanish is something I don't speak at all, but even I've never heard it said like Juan. Always Huan. Jose and Jesus, on the other hand have two pronunciations here (Finland). Either with J or with H.

Would they say it that way in Portugal? I don’t know, but I do know that José is said with a hard J there

My grandfather was named Juan. He didn’t have a Spanish background at all. My great grandmother was from the boonies of Notth Carolina. She was a bit of a free spirit though and thought the name Juan sounded exotic. She didn’t pronounce the name as “hwan” though. She called my grandfather “JOO-ahn”.

I'm in England as a native speaker, and I'm going to have to generalise here a bit, but in our native tongue, and mostly older generations, a 'j' is a 'jay' sound, and it might take a bit of learning on our part. People of younger generations are more exposed to more multicultural language, so more exposed to the pronunciation of different names and languages, but overall with my experience of a more aged population, the correct pronunciation could be uncommon

I've never heard it pronounced with a J sound. I've always heard wan

Im in Australia and I know someone who is named Juan. Lots of people pronounce it as Wan; I say it as it is in Spanish.

If someday is supposed to be called dʒəˈwan their name will be spelled Juwan or something like that.

no

Iiiiiiii actually do have an great-aunt “Juanita” (pronounced JUNE-ita) because her parents had only ever seen the name written down.

I grew up with a guy who pronounced it with ʒ, but it was a trilingual English/French/Spanish environment.

OP, what do you mean by "Juan"?  Do you mean that as English phonetic pronunciation, like tbe J in jungle? Or the actual original Spanish J, which does not exist in English? I'd say that has some similarity to a Dutch hard G or an Arabic Kha and a Hebrew sound/letter that I don't know the name of. Very few native English speakers are able to pronounce those.

Not in USA. Juan = Wahn. And Joaquin = Wahkeen, like the actor “Joaquin Phoenix.”

I live in the northeastern US. We would say “hwan” because we’re relatively familiar with J being pronounced differently in Spanish names and we know Juan is a Spanish name.

Well the country is big and I’d bet less whiteys are around Spanish speakers enough to actually pronounce the H than those that aren’t. As someone who grew up in the south and in the Midwest I always heard it pronounced “[wɑn]

No. I'm in Australia. We say it like Huan/Hwan/Wan.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say Juan incorrectly

There are other names: John, Joan, June, Jean which could potentially sound like Juan whilst pronouncing the J but they’re different names. I’ve never come across a Juan that wasn’t pronounced “hwan”

Somewhat common outside of the Americas but never correct.

Not in America. Over here it’s pretty common knowledge how “J” is pronounced in Spanish due to our close proximity to majority Spanish speaking countries and our high amount of Spanish speakers. I’d say that in America the most common mispronunciation of the name would be as “wan”. That said I wouldn’t be surprised if other English speaking countries where Spanish is less prevalent would commonly mispronounce it as “Juan”.

I pronounced as Juan [zoo-and] because of my languages. I am a Malaysian, I speak Chinese and Malay. I pronounced like that because of Hanyu Pinyin and the influence of Malay (pronounce J) I guess.  I was so confused when I was in Europe. The pronunciation of some words are different from what I expected it to be pronounced. I suddenly pronounced it as [you-and] for a period (my brain stucked). But right now I can pronounce it correctly as [hwan] because of Duolingo...

Yes non Europeans tend to pronounce it as Juan, not Hwan.

I personally know a Juan, and it’s pronounced with a J sound, not an H sound. Djoo-in.

No.

I thought it was Waan.

The Manx Gaelic (the native tongue of the Isle of Man in the UK) name Juan is pronounced as Jew-an. It may be that the name simply shares a spelling with the Hispanic "Hwan" rather than being directly derived from it but they are both equivalent to John so there is at least one place where "J" is correct.

Even though Britain has a much smaller proportion of Spanish speakers than the USA, Spain is the most popular summer holiday destination for Britons, so the Spanish pronunciation is likely to be very familiar. Not only Juan, but the actor Joaquin Phoenix is also well known. Living in Wales, the Spanish 'J' presents little difficulty for English speakers compared to the national language. For example, police vehicles are adorned with the Welsh word for police, "Heddlu" This is pronounced "Hethly".

That's pronounced Hwan, because we recognize it's a Spanish name and should be pronounced with Spanish sounds

Not that I've ever come across 

In the UK yes

Only really dumb people do. Most people learn after being corrected. Names in English will keep their original spelling and pronunciation, or at least the best approximation of the name with English phonemes