The phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) is a stunning silky-flycatcher, a member of the Ptiliogonatidae bird family. Glossy and striking with piercing red eyes, these outstanding birds are found in the American southwest and into Baja, Mexico as well as central mainland Mexico. But even more beautiful than their lustrous plumage is their fun-to-say name: phainopepla. But how do you say it, really?

First, break the name down into its typical four syllables – phain-o-pep-la. Each one can be pronounced in different ways depending on one’s regional accent and personal preferences.

Let’s start with “phain” – often pronounced with the long “A” as FAYN and typically rhyming with pain, train, rain, sane, and plane. A second option, however, is to pronounce the syllable with a long “E” as in FEEN, rhyming with keen, sheen, mean, lean, and spleen.

Interestingly, this might also be broken down into even more syllables, such as FAY-eyen or FEE-eyen or FAY-ihn or FEE-ihn. In that case, FEE rhymes with bee, sea, key, lee, and tree and FAY rhymes with bay, cay, say, ray, and splay, while eyen rhymes with twine, whine, brine, line, and mine and ihn rhymes with bin, tin, skin, spin, and kin. Sometimes, the slight accent might be placed on the end of this combination, such as fee-EYEN or fee-IHN. Right away, this gives us multiple pronunciation options, with three more syllables to go.

Fortunately, the remaining syllables are almost universally agreed upon as OH (rhymes with dough, go, blow, row, and show), PEHP (rhymes with step, schlep, strep, yep, and hep), and LAH (rhymes with ta, bah, spa, wah, and moi). Stress is most commonly placed on the first and third syllables of the full bird name, or first and fourth if the first syllable is further split into two distinct sounds. Less common but still equally valid pronunciations are for stress to be placed on the first, second, and fourth syllables of a five-syllabic breakdown, or stress only on the second and fourth syllables of the five-syllable word.

Putting these together with the initial confusing syllable and appropriate stresses, then, provides fourteen possible pronunciations:

• FAYN-oh-PEP-lah
• FEEN-oh-PEP-lah
  
• FAY-eyen-oh-PEP-lah
• FEE-eyen-oh-PEP-lah
  
• FAY-EYEN-oh-PEP-lah
• FEE-EYEN-oh-PEP-lah
  
• fay-EYEN-oh-PEP-lah
• fee-EYEN-oh-PEP-lah
  
• FAY-ihn-oh-PEP-lah
• FEE-ihn-oh-PEP-lah
  
• fay-IHN-oh-PEP-lah
• fee-IHN-oh-PEP-lah
  
• FAY-IHN-oh-PEP-lah
• FEE-IHN-oh-PEP-lah

To be clear, the stresses on different syllables generally sound as only minor variations. It is easy to overlook that small accent or even to change one’s personal pronunciation with each saying.

Ultimately, the overall pronunciation of the name seems to depend most on whether or not that first syllable is actually one or two syllables, and how the vowel is pronounced. Personally, I go with the four-syllable FAYN pronunciation, stressing the first syllable with a long “A” as a matter of personal preference. I’ve heard several options, but more often that not, I hear squeals of excitement as this amazing bird is sighted – no matter what individual birders may call it.