How do you pronounce the name of Pluto's moon, Charon?

4 thoughts on “How do you pronounce the name of Pluto's moon, Charon?”

1. Greek?

   Karon.

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2. Well, both Colbert and Neil Tyson say "SHA-ron" (like the name), so I may have to change my mind. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXazEYi3P8)

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3. +Dave Hill​ it's pronounced with a k as chaos is. it's the name of the ferryman on the river Styx!

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4. Well, yes, that's how the ferryman is named:

   In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (/ˈkɛərɒn/ or /ˈkɛərən/; Greek Χάρων)

   Looking at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)), the Moon's name is a little less clear (as also touched on in the attached article):

   _'On June 24, 1978, Christy first suggested the name Charon as a scientific-sounding version of his wife Charlene's nickname, "Char".[11] Although colleagues at the Naval Observatory proposed Persephone, Christy stuck with Charon after discovering it coincidentally refers to a Greek mythological figure:[11] Charon (/ˈkɛərɒn/ or /ˈkɛərən/; Greek Χάρων) is the ferryman of the dead, closely associated in myth with the god Hades, whom the Romans identified with their god Pluto. Official adoption of the name by the IAU waited until late 1985 and was announced on January 3, 1986.[12]

   […] The practice of following the classical pronunciation established for the mythological ferryman Charon (IPA [ˈkɛ:rən]) is used by major English-language dictionaries, such as the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary.[13][14] These indicate only one pronunciation of "Charon" when referring specifically to Pluto's moon: with an initial "k" sound. Speakers of many languages other than English, and many English-speaking astronomers as well, follow this pronunciation.[15]

   However, Christy himself pronounced the ch as sh (IPA [ʃ]), after his wife Charlene. Because of this, as an acknowledgement of Christy and sometimes as an in-joke or shibboleth, the initial sh pronunciation is common among astronomers when speaking English,[16][15][17][18] and this is the prescribed pronunciation at NASA and of the New Horizons team.[19][20]'_

   This wouldn't be the first time a proper Greek pronunciation was updated in an associated modern usage. That both pronunciations sound like women's names (thus carrying other associations) and that it's not a name that many people actually say aloud all that often probably doesn't help matters.

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