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A guide to pronouncing my name, inspired (and copied) by Christos Christodoulopoulos, who has probably suffered even more than me.

Alright, let's start with the last name:

• Break it down (stress marked): A - na - sta - so - pou - los
• Rough phonetic rendering: a - na - sta - so - pu - los
• IPA rendering: /ɐnɐstɐ'so:pulɒs/
• If you're still struggling (and I don't blame you), try this:


• If nothing works, just call me dr. A :P

My first name should be easier:

• Break it down (stress marked): A - nto - nis
• Rough phonetic rendering: a - do - nis
• IPA rendering: /ɐ'do:ni:s/

Etymology/Origins

My surname has two main components:
Anastaso: [related to] Anastasis, a common first name related to Christ's Resurrection ("Anàstasi" in Greek)
poulos: lit.(through Latin): small bird, fig: son of
So, the full surname roughly translates to "the son of Anastasis". However, my dad is not named Anastasis (nor would my son by named Anastasopoulo-poulos!). The most likely origin of the surname is due to the fact that during the beginning of the modern Greek nation (circa 1820s), most people, who until then had first names only, had to get an official family name. In my local region of Greece (the Peloponnese) one solution was to add the copula "poulos" after a first name. It was then that the son of a great-great-great grandfather called Anastasis gave himself the surname Anastasopoulos.

My first name

Now, there's some confusion regarding my first name (which in certain contexts has worked in my favour). When properly pronounced, my name sounds like "Adonis", the name of a god of beauty, desire, and vegetation, or maybe just a mortal who was the lover of the goddess Aphrodite in Greek mythology.
However, I'm actually named after Saint Antony of Egypt.
The issue lies in the different phonology between English and Greek:

• Adonis (Άδωνις, not my name) is pronounced /'ɐðoni:s/ in Greek, but /'adoni:s/ in English, while
• Antonis (Αντώνης, my name) is pronounced /ɐ'do:ni:s/ in Greek, while an English speaker would probably just read it as /an'to:ni:s/.

Even worse, my official first name is Antonios (Αντώνιος), which is just the archaic/ancient version and I find it sounds rather pompous. Either way you call me, though, I'll respond, so no worries!