I’ve updated the guide here because so many businesses have opened and closed. The back story of this guide is in the original post.

I stopped by or called every business with a name whose pronunciation could cause confusion—and there are a lot. Some will be obvious to you, but having been surprised several times, I decided to cast a wide net. I’m no expect at phonetics, so I did my best to make them as clear as possible. Put the stress where the italics are.

First, here are the Italian- (and Latin-) derived names.

• Marc Forgione for-jee-own
• Da Mikele dah mee-kay-leh
• Scalini Fedeli skah-lee-nee feh-dell-ee
• Tre Sorelle tray sohr-ell (In Italian, it’s pronounced tray sohr-ell-eh, but they Franco-Americanized it)
• Sole di Capri soh-lay dee kah-pree
• Tutto Il Giorno too-toh eel jyor-noh
• Gran Morsi grahn mohr-see
• Adoro Lei ah-dohr-oh lay

And on to the French/Franglais:

• Desbrosses Street I defer to historian Oliver E. Allen, author of Tribeca: A Pictorial History: “The Des is most likely Dess, and I’d say the brosses rhymes with bosses. It’s hard to say, though: It’s an Anglicization of a French name, and we don’t know how people pronounced it when they first converted it to English.” I didn’t ask, but I assume the accent is on “brosses.”
• Albert Capsouto Park al-behr cap-soo-toh
• Bouley Botanical boo-lay
• Terroir teh-rwahr (they said “teh-rwah” was too pretentious)
• Le Pain Quotidien leh pahn koh-ti-dee-yahn (the “n” at the end is more of an implication than an actual sound)
• Racines NY rah-seen  crossed out because it is now Chambers
• La Garçonne lah gar-sohn
• Bâtard bah-tard
• Vin des Amis vehn dayz ah-mee
• Jacadi zhawk-ah-dee
• Belle Reve bell rev

Other foreign-derived names:

• Falafel Tanami ta-na-mee
• Blaue Gans blau-eh gahnz
• Kaffe 1668 Kaffe is “coffee” in Swedish, but they say “café” like it’s French (and then “sixteen-sixty-eight”)
• Otte awt
• The Odeon oh-dee-ahn
• Jungsik yung shik
• Issey Miyake eee-say mee-yah-kay
• Zutto zoo-toh (the “zoo” is very quick)
• Azabu ah-zah-boo
• Nili Lotan nee-lee loh-tahn
• Polarn O. Pyret poh-larn-oh-peer-eht
• Aire Ancient Baths eye-ray
• Benares ben-ahr-ehs
• Shigure shih-guh-ray
• Fika fee-kuh
• A Uno Tribeca ay (rhymes with hey) ooh-noh
• Stillfried Wien still-freed veen
• Gunbae gun-bay
• Añejo ah-nyay-ho
• Abhaya ah-bye-uh
• Livly liv-lee (the first syllable is “live” as in “and let die”)
• Sapar Contemporary sah-pahr
• Aahar Indian Cuisine ah-hahr
• ONDA Beauty ahn-duh

And then there are names that aren’t foreign-derived (or might be but I have yet to look them up):

• Laight Street “Laight is definitely Late.” —Oliver E. Allen
• Smyth smith
• Babesta bayb-stuh (like gangsta, but for babes)
• Vesey Street vee-see (says Oliver E. Allen)
• Fiterman Hall fit-er-mehn
• Shinola shy-noh-luh
• Gotan goh-tahn
• James Perse purse
• Bar Cyrk sirk
• Arrojo ah-roh-joh
• Alumnae ah-luhm-knee
• Foundrae found-ray

A surprising number of businesses admitted that customers and suppliers often get their names wrong. Then again, many business said they didn’t care what you call them, just as long as you call them. If I missed any, let me know in comments.