What’s in a name ?

Is it Chávez or is it Cha-véz ?

This is a free country but some Hispanic

names should be pronounced in the correct maner.What’s in a name ?

By Amaury Pi-González

In the Network Associate Coliseum, PA Announcer Roy Steele, one

of the best says: Now batting, number three

Eric Chavéz. But is is really Cha-véz, with the accent on the “e” ? My friend

professor of Linguistics and Comparative Studies at Yale,

Prof.Roberto González Echevarría (author of The Pride of Havana, a book about Adolfo Luque and baseball in Cuba) tells me the

“only”correct pronunciation is: Chá-vez, with the accent on the “a”. He should know, he teaches in one of the great schools in the world.

However, I have done some other research and the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (The Real Academy of the Spanish Language) also states clearly that it is always and in any country pronounced Chá-vez, with the accent in the “a”. So Professor Echevarría is correct.

I know, I know, Eric says that is is Cha-véz,

but he is wrong. Just like another ex-A’S

player. That A’S player was secondbaseman Marty Pérez (even though he always used to tell me it was Peréz). You would think that with close to 30% of all Major League players having Hispanic names most professional baseball announcers can pronounce these names with ease and correctly. But that is not the case.

Some exceptions, like ESPN’S and San Francisco Giants Jon Miller who takes much pride in his pronuntiation of each name, even thought Jon is not Hispanic, he has learned some Spanish and does pronounce the names correctly. Joe Angel, also a Giants announcer does it correctly, however, for Angel it is easier, since he was born in

Colombia, South America.

But you need not to be a professor to pronounce close to 30% of all Latino players names in the Major Leagues.

Some people never ‘get it’. Until a few years ago there were no Major League player with the name Amaury (a name I am familiar with)

until pitcher by the name of Amaury Telemaco arrived on the scene. Some people asked me: ‘Is Amaury , same as

Maury? I respond, of course not !

Is García and Garcíaparra the same ?

Lots of people(non Hispanic)are confused when in Latinamerica is common that a person will have in their last names the

father name first and then the mothers name (before marriage). In the case of this reporter mi father’s last name was Pi and my mother’s last name, -before she married my father- was González, therefore I use Pi-González. That should not be complicated.

Now, If you want to add to that my Catholic name, Francisco, since I was born October 4 and that in the Catholic Church is St Francis of Asisi day. That means that my birth certificate reads Amaury Francisco Pi-González. Pi is a name not an initial even though some consider it also a “formula”.

During my years doing regular news as well as sports, back in the 1970’s for Bay Area radio staion KOFY 1050 AM when It was 100% 24 hours Spanish format, presently it is the Ticket 1050 Sports, in a couple of

ocassions I had to travel to Salinas to interview California’s most famous Chávez.

César Chávez a man of great integrity that

fought to bring a better living to many farmworkers in this county. I also worked for CRLA (California Rural Legal Assistance)

in translations so that attorneys could figure out what was going on with these migrant farm workers and the way they were exploited . It was Chávez then and it still

Chávez…not Cha-véz today. Even the great Cesar Chávez told me he was not very proud the way some people would pronounce his last name. He once told me: “es un nombre común, no debe de haver dificultad”

(It is a common name, there should be

no difficulty).

But I guess in the world of baseball anything goes. I just wanted to set the record straight.

I respect the Athletics third baseman and Gold Glove the way that he pronounces his last name, but with all my respect he is simply wrong. This is not going to change (like a scoring play that first was an “E”and then is a Hit, but Chávez would always be Chávez.

————————————————————–

Amaury Pi-González is in his eight season as the Spanish Play by Play Announcer for the San Francisco Giants. Games are on KZSF 1370 AM “La Caliente”. He also covers the Postseason for LBC (Cadena Latina Radio Network)and the Caribbean World Series

for Fox Sports. His articles are also on

www.latinobaseball.com in English and Spanish.