We've all been pronouncing the name of Saints RB Travis Etienne Jr. wrong

After spending the first five seasons of his pro career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, running back Travis Etienne Jr. signed a four-year deal reportedly worth $52M with the New Orleans Saints. 

It turns out some who read the introduction to this piece may have mentally or verbally pronounced Etienne's name incorrectly. 

Travis Etienne Jr. teaches us the true pronunciation of his name

"Growing up it's Travis Etienne -- so it be like A-C-H-A-N-E. And that's how you always say it," he explained, per Paul Bretl of Jaguars Wire/USA Today. "Travis Etienne (pronounced Achane). When I went to college, I kept telling them my name every day, every day, every day. Like after four weeks, they just couldn't get it. So I'm like, man, it's Etienne. Like how you see it is how you say it. And that's how that became."

Back in February 2021, it was suggested that current New York Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor didn't love that certain media members referred to him as "Frankie" during his time with the franchise now known as the Cleveland Guardians. As Jon Helmkamp once noted for what was the Deadspin website, that practice has been seen as an "unintentional disrespect of Americanizing Latin names." For example, broadcasters and audiences took to calling Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente "Bobby" decades ago. 

In this particular situation, it seems that people were simply failing to grasp how to properly say Etienne's name. 

Why Travis Etienne Jr. stopped correcting people on how to say his name

"It kind of took off because it was easier for the announcers to say it," Etienne continued. "I didn't have to correct them every day to say my name, and when I kind of just started learning more about my last name and how it came about and things like that, it just kind of stuck. It made sense. I'm very much open to being Travis Etienne (pronounced Achane) again. Being myself, I don't have to correct people here on how to say my name each and every day, and I kind of love that."

Announcers who work for the NFL's many media partners now have roughly half a year to work on pronouncing Etienne's name correctly. If nothing else, Etienne deserves some credit for delivering one of the more unique "Friday news dumps" in recent memory.