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Villa-Ruh … What?How do you pronounce the new L.A. mayor's name?

By Andy Bowers
Posted Friday, July 1, 2005, at 6:51 PM ET
A tutorial from the mayor Click image to expand.

52-year-old Antonio Villaraigosa was sworn in today as the 41st mayor of Los Angeles. He's the city's first Latino mayor since the 19th century.

The new mayor was actually born Antonio Villar. In 1988, he and his new wife, Connie Raigosa, combined their surnames into the more colorful, but less pronounceable, Villaraigosa.

So how do you say it? For the definitive answer, we go to the source's mouth:

Click here to listen as the new mayor explains how to pronounce his name.

Next question?

Explainer thanks Karen Grigsby Bates at NPR's Day to Day for providing the audio.

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Andy Bowers is the editor of Slate V.
Photograph of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images.
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