When President Bill Clinton campaigns on behalf of Democrat Mike Michaud in Portland tonight, he may need to be reminded about the correct pronunciation of Michaud's last name. It's a subject that comes up most often among politicians and reporters, sticklers for accuracy who are often thrown by the candidate's Franco-American heritage. Here at MPBN we've also had inquiries from listeners and staff, so let's set the record straight.
Pronunciation of the Michaud name runs the gamut. Chris Hayes of MSNBC introduced the gubernatorial candidate on his show a few months ago: "Joining me now Democratic Congressman Michael Michaud (Mih'-show) of Maine who is running for governor this year against Paul LePage."
Wait, did he just say Michael? We'll get to that in a minute. And this is how the first recognized Franco-American elected to Congress in 2003 was recently introduced at the United Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas: "Brothers and sisters, it's my great honor to introduce the next governor of the great state of Maine, our brother, Mike Michaud (Mish'-oo)."
And, finally, a 2012 GOP television ad criticized both the congressman and the president, using yet another often repeated pronunciation: "This is Congressman Michael Michaud (Mee-shoo)."
One MPBN listener recently left us a voicemail saying he's new to Maine and finds the various pronunciations of the gubernatorial candidate's name so confusing that it took him awhile to connect the spelling he was seeing on bumper stickers and signs with the person whose name he heard on television and radio. He offered a suggestion.
"I didn't know if if mattered or not but I think they should pronounce it Mee-SHOW' rather than MEE'-show," Matthew Esposito says.
According to the websitePronouncenames.com that's pretty close.
"Mee-show. Mee-show," a prerecorded voice says on the site. "Do we have the correct pronunciation of your name?"
Actually, that depends on whom you ask.
"Je m'appelle Michel Michaud (Mih-SHOW')," says the man himself, Mike Michaud.
And there you have it, straight from the candidate's mouth. But he says there are two acceptable pronunciations.
"It's proper pronunciation either way," Michaud says. "The French name is Mih-SHOW. The anglicized version is MIH-shoo. And actually everyone I've talked to that has the same last name, when a telemarketer calls, it's MICH-ard."
But, for the sake of consistency, Michaud's campaign manager, Matt McTighe, says the campaign is going with "Mih-show."
McTighe says he is frequently asked about this issue, especially when another politician is about to introduce him. But he does have one suggestion for those who live outside Maine's French-speaking communities who are still unsure.
"You know, there are parts of the state where no matter what we say people are going to still say it the other way and that's just what they're used to calling Mike," Matt McTighe says. "That's why I think most people would just call him Mike. I think most people know him by that name."
If Michaud wins his race, he won't be the first Franco-American to be elected by popular vote to the office. That distinction belongs to GOP candidate and current Gov. Paul LePage, whose campaign spokesman says the phonetic spelling of the governor's last name makes it pretty easy to pronounce. However, Alex Willette says around some French-speaking communities the preferred version is actually Le-pahje. But that's another story.
