A former marriage celebrant learned Polish names for a wedding and spent three weeks mastering the Welsh station name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Getting names right, he argues, signals respect and builds trust in any relationship.
It amazes me how people in business sometimes don't understand the importance of people's names. I learned how important it was when I became a marriage celebrant some years ago, and I realised that if you get the names wrong, it's not cool. It doesn't go down well. with the couple, nor does it go down well with their guests. And so I learned how important it was to learn people's names. One particular incident was a Polish couple who came to see me, and they had unpronounceable names. And they understood that I was Australian and I was going to have difficulty with their names, but I floored them when I said, teach me how to say Now, it took about 20 minutes, about 10 minutes for each of them, but I can still repeat those names right now. I'm not going to for their privacy, but they were Polish names that were difficult, and I can say them perfectly. People at the wedding, when it eventually did happen, came up to me— guests— and said, wow, you did the names really well, because of course their friends were nearly all Polish, and they were waiting to see what I would do. Now, let me tell you, you can learn a name. There's a railway station in Wales. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's supposed to be the longest name in the world, certainly of a railway station anyway. And I have a bit of an affinity with Wales. My family heritage is from Wales. And so I decided one day to learn how to say this name. Now, if you're Welsh, you'll laugh when I say it because from your perspective, I'm getting it all wrong, I'm sure. But from an Australian perspective, I reckon I do it pretty well. And so let me give it a go. The station is Llanfairgwyddyn Gilgocherygyn Rhobel Llantysilio Gogogo. Now it means a whole paragraph almost, and I'm not going to go into that. But if you can learn a word like that, and it did take me, I must admit, 3 weeks practicing every day to be able to say that word. If you can learn a name, then— and particularly a difficult name— people think you are a cut above everyone else. Because the Polish couple told me no one, and I mean no one in Australia, had ever bothered to learn how to say their names. And no one did. So I learnt their names. I was, for them, the best thing since sliced bread.
