So what is your name and how do you say it?

What is my name?

My full name is Christian Kragh Jespersen, a very Danish 🇩🇰 name. Why is it very Danish? Well my first name is the single most common name in Denmark (including the alternate form “Kristian”), stemming from the fact that it is one of two allowed names for male Danish monarchs. The other is Frederik, which the current Danish king, Frederik X is called. My surname is part of the patronymic naming tradition of “father’s name”+“sen” (meaning son). My last name therefore simply means “son of Jesper”. My father’s name is however not Jesper (although one of his brothers is called Jesper), since in 1856 the state decided that it was too much trouble to keep track of changes in surnames every generation, and fixed each family’s surname to whatever it was at that time.

How should you write my name?

Please write it as “Jespersen, Christian Kragh”, ideally without shortening the “Kragh” to “K.”, although that is preferable to not including it. It is legally part of my first name, so that is why it should not be shortened.

How should you say my name?

First of all, no need to call me “Christian Kragh”, just “Christian” is fine! If you read IPA, the proper pronunciation of my name is:

ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈkʰʁɑˀw ˈjespɐsn̩

If not, you can find a recording of my name here: https://www.name-coach.com/christiankragh-jespersen?share_trigger=true

If you can’t do the “hard r” (ʁ in IPA, non-existent in English), that’s completely fine, just do whatever r fits in with what languages you already know.