My first name (“Adrianne”) is pronounced AY-dree-ən or ay-dree-AN, and my surname (“Wu”) is pronounced WOO.
I do not use a middle initial except in publications, where I am “Adrianne H. Wu” or “A.H. Wu” for disambiguation purposes; the inclusion of my middle initial is otherwise optional.
I prefer to be described with gender-neutral and/or gender-inclusive language, avoiding gendered honorifics (e.g., “Ms.”) and terms of address (e.g., “ma’am”) unless doing so would be considered awkward or disrespectful. Please use she/her pronouns or the singular they to refer to me.
Pronunciation
I strongly prefer for people to adapt my name to the sounds of their own language and accent (e.g., if you’re speaking in Mandarin, you can pronounce my first name as ādélǐān).
In English, both provided pronunciations of my first name are equally fine, though I usually say AY-dree-ən.
Please pronounce my surname as WOO in spoken English — if you’re a Mandarin speaker, you may pronounce it as wú (吳), though I personally don’t do so when speaking in English.
What people most often get wrong is the spelling of my first name, so if you get that correct (i.e., you use two As and one E), you’re ahead of the curve. The best mnemonic I’ve come up with is that “Adrianne” is the accurate spelling, but I’m open to suggestions.
I only include my middle initial in academic contexts, and I generally add a period afterwards (i.e., “H.”).
However, the period can be removed if the style guide being used requires otherwise (e.g., “AH Wu”).
I don’t go by any nicknames, so please don’t abbreviate my first name except as an initial.
My surname is short enough that I trust you to figure out the spelling.
Thanks for reading!
This page is part of a broader effort to encourage people to overtly state the parameters of how to use their names.
You can read more about it in this Twitter thread by linguist Gretchen McCulloch, whose name page inspired this one.
Extra
Here’s some additional information for fun and/or reference!
