Denzel Washington has revealed that people have been mispronouncing his name throughout his five-decade career.

He’s one of the most recognizable names

Washington, 70, is one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, having made a name for himself after taking part in multiple classic movies.

Most recently, he starred in Gladiator 2 alongside Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal.

He revealed people have been saying his name wrong

Apparently, we’ve all been pronouncing Washington’s name wrong this whole time.

In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the actor said that the pronunciation of his name was changed by his mother as he and his father shared the same first name.

He explained how it’s actually said

Washington explained that although everyone’s been pronouncing his name as ‘Den-zelle’, the original pronunciation is actually ‘Den-zull’.

Washington can tell when people are named after him

The change in pronunciation means the actor can recognize when people are named after him.

This came up when Kimmel asked Washington, “Did you know that there are currently four players named Denzel in the NFL?”

There weren’t any before he became known

Kimmel added, “There weren’t that many before your first Oscar. There was zero in 1987.”

To this, Washington replied, “This is how you know they named themselves after me because… my name’s not pronounced Denzel. My name’s pronounced Denzel.”

Washington explained how it happened

The actor explained, “I’m Denzel Jr. My father’s Denzel Hayes Washington Senior. I’m Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. My mother would say ‘Denzel!’ and we both show up.”

“So she said, ‘From now on, you’re Denzel’. That’s how it got pronounced Denzel.”