HEE-nuff-Skee? American trying to find the correct pronunciation of his Polish last name.

Hi, I'm a 3rd or 4th Polish-American from Chicago IL. Although my city has one of the largest Polish populations outside of Poland itself I don't really know anyone who speaks fluent Polish seeing as though most of my friends are like myself (Polish-American) therefore limiting our Polish to mostly swear words and the term "Na zdrowie" when were getting **** faced. My last name is Hejnowski. So far I have had people who claim to be supposed fluent Polish speakers tell me that my name is pronounced HEE-nuff-Skee, Haj-nuff-skee, etc. I was just wondering if anyone on here knew of the correct pronunciation? Thanks.

let me give it a go
hay-nuh-v-ski

That's an easy one. Hey-nuff-skee. It seems your 'people' were not sure about the first syllable (hee or haj). It's really 'hey', like...hey.

Ivona does: ivona.com/us/?tk=HVia4TUBr2

Cinek

Wouldn't that be "Hejnafski"?

It's Hejnowski, so it should be sth more like "Hey-noff-skee" or even better - "Hey-nov-skee" (with "o" pronounced like in English "off", "on" or "pot").

In English, 'nuff' and 'noff' really sound close, if not the same.
But you're Polish, and since Poles don't have that 'uh' sound, you tend to pronounce it 'ah', so that's why :P

Um, okey... but... still... I'm sure "noff" is closer to Polish pronunciation than "nuff' even if only for the sole reason that we don't even have "uh" sound in Polish :) ;)

(and I can hear a difference between "nuff said" and "off" or "Smirnoff", for example)

Yes, there is a tiny difference between them too (I hope you didn't feel insulted btw :P), but the main problem was actually more about the first syllable (hej-). The rest was okay.

The guy is not Polish, he will always have an accent anyway ;)

I don't think so... Why would I?


Not okay enough for me ;)


Probably, but it doesn't mean he's somehow unworthy of being given the correct pronunciation or sth :P ;) Besides, other people may be reading it too, people who want to learn Polish.