How to Pronounce Yuan

C'mon Google

Yuan is the word for the currency of China.

A yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán)

Second tone.

It’s also my name.

Yuan (Chinese: 遠; pinyin: yuǎn)

Third tone.

My grandfather gave me my name, 王致遠. (Wáng Zhìyuǎn)

It is from a Chinese idiom: 寧靜致遠 - which translates to “tranquility yields transcendence.” So, the literal translation is King of Transcendence.

遠 - Yuan literally translates to “far.”

致遠 - Zhiyuan translates roughly to “send far.”

If you Google how to pronounce yuan, it returns yoo-aan.

Here are native pronunciations of 遠 and 元.

Now, I’m not picky. People can call me “Yen” or “Yuen” and it doesn’t bother me at all if an individual mispronounces my name.

However, “yoo-aan” does sound like a caveman being vaguely offensive to Asians. Google is a massive company and should be able to do better. This Google search seems to explain why people so commonly make this mistake in butchering my name and the currency of China.