As many who know me will attest, often with a sigh or a smirk, I develop headaches quite rapidly when people repeatedly mispronounce my last name, even after multiple corrections by yours truly or others. It is, I suppose, something of a blessing that my other two names are so darn simple: John, and Edward.

The heart of the problem stems from the fact that the word "marquis" is part of more than one language -- it is both a French and an English word. It means the same in either language, essentially: a title of minor royalty (though the exact rank may vary between the French and English systems). Its root is "march", an archaic term for the borderland of a country -- a "marquis" is a "count of the march".

So what's the problem? The problem is that for some reason, in this country where we speak a slight variation of the Queen's English, more people are familiar with the French "marquis" (pronounced mar-KEE) than with the English "marquis" (pronounced MAR-kwis). It is clear how this can be true -- few people have NOT heard of one of the following: Marquis de Lafeyette, Marquis de Sade, Mercury's Grand Marquis. All these are, naturally, pronounced using the French pronunciation. I have no problem with that.

A few people seem to know of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules of boxing -- the one English-pronunciation use I can think of in popular culture -- but clearly not enough. Thus, wacky as it may seem for people in an English-speaking country to try and call me JON mar-KEE, this is what I get about 95 percent of the time. (Note: I actually had an ENGLISH TEACHER once argue with me that I pronounced my OWN NAME WRONG! Do you sense my frustration?!)

My direct male line is British... they spoke English. Please honor my ancestors, as I would honor yours, by pronouncing my name, that which has been passed down over centuries, correctly.

One last time, the correct pronunciation is MAR-kwis.
Don't feel bad if you guessed wrong, though... you have plenty of company, and I'll forgive you.

Once.