How To Pronounce My Name

So because a lot of folks are getting For Darkness Shows the Stars “in their mailboxes,” I’ve been seeing a lot of you tube videos where they say my name. Or attempt to. It’s funny the way it always goes down.

“This is the new book by Diana, uh, ::looks at book cover:: Peter, uh, fruhnd?” (Or froond. Froond is another popular attempt.)

And I totally get it. My name is not an easy one. It has dogged publicists, booksellers, book cover designers, award ceremony MCs, the dean of my college at my graduation ceremony, and almost every teacher I’ve ever had. (There was a really embarrassing moment in high school when I ran for secretary of the ninth grade student council and the student body president called me Diana Perfunderfunder and the principal thought that was so hilarious he called me that for the rest of high school.)

I also get it because no one in my family pronounces our name the same way.

Peterfreund is a German-language name that is simply the compound of “Peter” and the German word for friend, “freund.” It’s not a particularly common name here in America, but it was a not-particularly-uncommon name for Ashkenazi Jews living in Europe before World War II, which is what my father’s father’s side of my family were.

My paternal grandfather, an immigrant, just translated it from the German and pronounced it like that: “Peter-friend.” In fact, since publishing my first book, I’ve gotten letters from folks named Peterfriend (spelled that way, because their immigrant ancestors decided to translate it on paper too) asking if we could be related. (Chances are no.) Other members of my family say “Peterfriend” or, in deference to that “u” hanging out there, say “Peterfrund” or kind of elide over that last vowel altogether.

I had a German-speaking teacher in high school who, probably to counteract the yuk-yuks of the principal, used to call me “Miss Peh-tur-froind.”

“Freund” in German is pronounced “froind.” Think of it like Freud, but with an N in it. Freud is a name everyone knows how to pronounce and spell. I think if my name were just “Freund” (as some junk mailers seem to think, because I get letters all the time directed to “Peter Freund” then maybe people would have an easier time of it. It’s all those extra syllables that trip people up. They start with Peter, which is, you know, relatively simple and then they’re smacked in the face with this whole mess of letters they have no idea what to do with.

I usually say “Peter-froind.” It gives people a hint of the correct spelling.

But you have my sympathy. It’s a lot of name. It doesn’t even fit on twitter, which is why my Twitter name is @dpeterfreund instead.

So, how to pronounce my name? Your guess is as good as mine. Most of the people in my life here in DC and at my publishers say Peter-froind, because that’s how I say it. When the narrator of the BRAND SPANKING NEW Rampant and Ascendant audiobooks says it, she says Peterfroind, because that’s what I answered when they asked me how.

Oh yeah. I have audio books. See?

Aside from my short stories, these are my first audiobooks. I heart them. I’d pet them, but they’re digital only. You can buy them or listen to a sample of their excellence here.

The narrator, Luci Christian Bell, is best known for her work in anime (I particularly liked her turn in Appleseed Ex Machina as a futuristic cop in a post-apocalyptic world where they gave her a new partner cloned from her ailing cyborg lover — and yes, it’s as angsty as that sounds) and makes an excellent Astrid. I was very concerned that Astrid would be too cutesy. She is not. She is very warrior, but Bell also captures her vulnerability.