(NEXSTAR) – Do you ever wonder if you’ve been pronouncing “Auntie Anne’s” wrong, and have thus become the laughingstock of your local mall’s food court?
Probably not. But it couldn’t hurt to check.
Auntie Anne’s pretzel shops, which were founded in 1988, can currently be found throughout the U.S. and beyond, with many locations inside malls, outlets, travel centers and the like. But the company doesn’t rely much on TV to advertise, meaning customers might be unfamiliar with the proper pronunciation of the popular pretzel chain.
So is it “Auntie” with an “ahnt” sound? Or “Auntie” with an “ant”?
Luckily for language nerds, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest it’s the latter.
Looking at the official Auntie Anne’s social media pages, it’s not hard to find videos of workers or voiceover artists using the “ant” pronunciation. In one 2021 post on TikTok, the brand even pointed to a pronunciation soundbite from a Google search which provides users with the “ant” version.
“We’re seeing this debate so just hitting you with the facts,” the caption read.
Anne F. Beiler, the founder and former owner of Auntie Anne’s, also favors the “ant” pronunciation, as heard in a short documentary on her official website.
Confusion over the correct pronunciation has nevertheless persisted, possibly thanks in part to differences in regional dialects. Even franchise operators in the U.K. sometimes prefer the “ahnt” version, as seen in a YouTube video from 2019.
Auntie Anne’s itself is also well aware that about half the country uses “ahn” over “ant” when referring to their aunts, citing a 2024 Talker survey of 5,000 Americans commissioned by Auntie Anne’s itself.
“However, Auntie Anne’s reputation precedes punctuation, and even those who call their aunts AHN-TEE do still call the brand ANT-EE Anne’s!” the brand wrote of the findings. (Interestingly enough, the same survey found that respondents in seven states were just as likely to call the brand “Aunt Annie’s” as “Auntie Anne’s.”)
“The correct pronunciation is Ant-ee — which, according to our survey, is the most popular option,” a representative for Auntie Anne’s reiterated in a statement shared with Nexstar.
Even so, it’s likely that the employees of your local Auntie Anne’s probably aren’t going to get their pretzels in a twist over your preferred pronunciation.
“We pronounce it Ann-tee […] but I do know that some folks say On-tee Anne’s,” a representative for the company acknowledged in 2010.
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