Multiple, yet plausible, pronunciations of a proper name are generated based on one or more potential language origins of the name, and based further on the context in which the name is being spoken-namely, on characteristics of the population of potential speakers. Conventional techniques may be employed to identify likely candidates for the language origin of the name, and the characteristics of the speaker population on which the generation of the pronunciations is further based may comprise, for example, the national origin of the speakers, the purpose of the speech, the geographical location of the speakers, or the general level of sophistication of the speaker population. Specifically, a method and apparatus is provided for generating a plurality of plausible pronunciations for a proper name, the method or apparatus for use in performing speech recognition of speech utterances comprising the proper name by individuals within a given population of speakers, the method or apparatus comprising steps or means respectively for (a) identifying one or more of a plurality of languages as a potential origin of the proper name; and (b) generating a plurality of plausible pronunciations for the given proper name, one or more of the plurality of pronunciations based on the one or more identified languages, and the plurality of plausible pronunciations based further on one or more characteristics associated with the given population of speakers.
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