whoami - Ioannis, Giannis, or Yannis? GR issues.

If you are reading this, chances are you’re one of my colleagues. Hello there 🤗

Perhaps you have noticed me sending private messages as Giannis, or Yannis. However, in official documents and professional settings, my name is listed as “Ioannis” 🤔

Unfortunately, I don’t possess multiple identities 😄 My name is officially Ιωάννης, which directly translates to English as Ioannis. However, this sounds too formal in common Greek, and thus its diminutive form, Γιάννης, is preferred.

So, why the variations between Yannis and Giannis? As you might know, Greek employs its unique alphabet. Therefore, in Greeklish (Greek written with the Latin alphabet), Γιάννης naturally becomes Giannis. And that’s my preference. However, this preference presents a phonetic challenge: most people tend to mispronounce the sound of my name, as there is no direct 1-to-1 correspondence between the Greek letter Γ, γ (gamma) to G, g. Hence, when written in English, my name as Yannis most closely resembles its original pronunciation.

When I first moved abroad, I wasn’t sure how to write my name in a way that others could pronounce it correctly. Consequently, some people encountered me as Ioannis in official documents due to my passport, while others knew me as Giannis or Yannis from personal messages. I’m just puzzled as you might be, but let’s simplify things from now on: feel free to call me Giannis but try to pronounce it as Yannis 😄.