A quick guide to pronouncing the top names in the 2026 NFL Draft

The NFL Draft brings a bunch of new names into the picture for pro football fans. And some of those new names feel designed to trip you up. Sometimes the names are just unfamiliar and more simple to say than you realize. Some of them are actual tongue twisters.

Either way, it helps to know exactly how to say the name of the player your team just drafted. That's certainly better than finding out years later everyone has been pronouncing it wrong. (See: Etienne, Travis)

So here's a look at how to pronounce the names of all the top prospects on FanSided's Interactive Big Board.

We can start with the real tough ones, like Vega Ioane, whose actual name is Olaivavega Ioane. He goes by Vega for the simplicity.

How to pronounce Vega Ioane

Oh-LIE-va-VENG-uh or VENG-uh YO-wahn-ay

Like a lot of Polynesian names, this one is actually easier than it looks, you just have to know the right pronunciation patterns. In Tongan and other Polynesian languages, the g actually represents a sound that's more like ng. That's why Samoan Tua Tagovailoa's name is TUNG-oh-vai-LOW-ah instead of TAG-oh-vai-LOW-ah.

It's the same for Vega. Just turn the g into an ng and you're golden.

Here's the ultimate tip for the rest of Ioane's name, and most Polynesian names really: Break it down by focusing on the consonant + vowel combinations and find the rhythm. O-lai-va-ve-ga Io-a-ne (for the io, think about how you'd say those letters together ee-oh. Then speed it up and see how quickly you get to something that sounds much more like yo). Once you're down to two-letter chunks, it's much easier to work. That's five beats for the first name and three for the last. Oh-lie-va-veng-a Yo-wahn-ay.

We see this with Francis Mauigoa's name as well.

How to pronounce Francis Mauigoa

FRAN-sis mow-ee-NO-uh

There are a lot of vowels in that name so it looks intimidating, but it's still all about breaking down the sounds into chunks and finding that beat.

So we get: Mau-i-go-a. Then we remember that the g becomes more like an ng. With four beats it's mow-ee-no-uh.

The importance of simply saying all the letters doesn't just extend to Polynesians. Max Iheanachor, the Nigerian-American coming out of Arizona State, is another good example.

How to pronounce Max Iheanachor

MAX ee-HA-nuh-chore

With these long names, the best way is always to just slow down. Iheanachor isn't hard to say if you're taking stock of all the letters, much like you need to do with Polynesian names: i-hea-na-chor. With the long-e sound at the front and the hea blended down, we get ee-ha-nah-chore.

It may be easier to think of it like this: ee-hana-chore.

There are other names that can trip people up. We've got a full top 50 pronunciation guide for you here:

NFL Draft pronunciation guide for 2026

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