Barry Keoghan clears the confusion about name pronunciation

Barry Keoghan has finally settled the debate about how to pronounce his surname.

It turns out the BBC Radio 1 host who has been saying it correctly all along deserves a pat on the back.

The Banshees of Inisherin star, 33, appeared on Greg James’ Breakfast Show on 11th March, where the pair bonded over the ongoing public confusion around the Irish actor’s last name. 

James, who pronounces it “Kee-oh-gan,” revealed he regularly gets pushback from listeners insisting he has it wrong. 

“Every time I say it on the radio,” James said, “people are like, ‘It’s not Kee-OH-gan.’ I’m like, ‘It is!'” Keoghan was delighted, asking who exactly was spreading the incorrect version, to which James joked it was “everyone.”

Keoghan was unambiguous about the correct pronunciation, offering a simple rule of thumb: “Until a Keoghan tells you it’s not how you say it, well then you know.”

He was equally clear that the alternative, shortening it to something closer to “Kee-gan”, simply would not do. 

“No, Kee-gan is wrong. It sounds like an infection,” he quipped.

As for how James himself remembers the correct pronunciation, he offered a rather memorable, and very adult, explanation involving the famous full-frontal scene at the end of Saltburn. 

Keoghan has previously suggested his tricky surname may actually have been an asset. 

“I find that if you have a difficult to pronounce name, you’re more likely to go far, especially in the U.S.,” he told Geek Ireland in 2022, pointing to Saoirse Ronan as a fellow example. 

“So, maybe it’s a benefit having a peculiar name.”