Barry Keoghan has finally settled the debate over how to pronounce his surname.
Turns out the BBC Radio 1 presenter who has been saying it correctly all along deserves a pat on the back.
He Inisherin Banshees The star, 33, appeared on Greg James. Breakfast Show on March 11, where the couple bonded over the current public confusion surrounding the Irish actor’s last name.
James, who pronounces it “Kee-oh-gan,” revealed that he regularly receives criticism from listeners who insist he got it wrong.
“Every time I say it on the radio,” James said, “people say, ‘It’s not Kee-OH-gan.’ I say, ‘It is!'” Keoghan was delighted and asked who exactly was spreading the wrong version, to which James joked that it was “everyone”.
Keoghan was unambiguous about the correct pronunciation and offered a simple rule of thumb: “Until a Keoghan tells you that’s not how you say it, then you know.”
It was equally clear that the alternative, shortening it to something closer to “Kee-gan”, simply wouldn’t work.
“No, Kee-gan is wrong. It sounds like an infection,” he joked.
As for how James himself remembers the correct pronunciation, he offered a rather memorable and very adult explanation of the famous frontal scene at the end of salty burn.
Keoghan has previously suggested that his complicated surname could have been an advantage.
“I think if you have a name that’s hard to pronounce, you’re more likely to go far, especially in America,” he said. Geek Ireland in 2022, and points to Saoirse Ronan as another example.
“So maybe it’s a benefit to have a quirky name.”
