‘Rah-lee-ah’? Have we been saying ‘Raleigh’ wrong for 200 years? Ocho thinks so

We really have to hand it to former NFL wide receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. Of all the ways we’ve heard “Raleigh” mispronounced over the years, Ocho took it to new heights this week on the “Nightcap” podcast he co-hosts with NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.

On the podcast, Sharpe accuses Ocho of having never been to Charlotte. Ocho responds that he has too been to Charlotte, and in fact, he once dated a girl from Charlotte. Then, this: “I’ve been to, uh, Rah-lee-ah. I’ve been to Ra-lee-ah twice.”

Sharpe, stunned, says “You mean Raleigh?” (Using Rah-lee, the correct pronunciation.) Ocho corrects him: “Ra-lee-ah.”

“Oh, OK. Close enough,” Sharpe says dismissively. The two go back and forth, Ocho genuinely perplexed, Sharpe confident, but not willing to fight about it.

^{We’ve heard Rally. We’ve heard Rawleigh. But never, ever this.}

^{Ocho’s take is so original, so innovative, we’re not even mad about it. Rah-lee-ah. It’s almost poetic.}

The internet, of course, loved it.

On the OG Podcast, a Raleigh-based sports podcast hosted by Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio, Ovies played the clip and said: “Not even my (Cuban) dad, who loves to — as an out — say, ‘Well English is not my first language,’ who grew up in Hialeah (pronounced Hi-uh-lee-uh), would never in a million years look at ‘Raleigh’ and go, ‘you know, Ra-lee-ah.’”

For the record, Ocho is from Miami, which is about 10 miles from Hialeah, so it suddenly makes all the sense.

Commenters on Reddit:

• “Man, I’d love to see him try Fuquay-Varina.”
• “Can’t believe the missed opportunity to say Door-ham.”
• “As an Ashleigh, it turns out my name is pronounced Ash-leah. Been saying it wrong my whole (bleep) life.”

North Carolina place names can be hard to pronounce

Pronunciations aren’t always straightforward. We’ve had a bit of fun in the past writing about the real struggle some folks have with North Carolina place names.

In 2023, News & Observer reporter Martha Quillin penned a guide to pronouncing local place and street names like Mordecai, Salisbury, Blount and Duraleigh. Six years prior, Abbie Bennett dove into the history behind the naming of spots like Beaufort, Wendell and Kure Beach.

In 2022, some N&O staffers made a video attempting to pronounce places like Robeson County, Topsail Beach, Duplin County, Bahama, Beaufort, Blount, Conetoe, Corolla, Mebane, Wendell and Raleigh. The error rate was shocking (but hilarious).

Here’s a sample from Quillin’s 2023 list:

• Blount Street: BLUNT (like the proverbial instrument)
• Dorothea Dix Park: door-uh-THEE-uh
• Mordecai Historic Park: MOR-duh-kee (like what you use to unlock a door)
• Salisbury Street: SAWLS-berry
• Lenoir Street: luh-NOR (GPS goes full Clouseau on this one)
• Cabarrus Street: kuh-BEAR-us

Staff writer Martha Quillin contributed to this story.

This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 11:15 AM.

Brooke Cain

The News & Observer

Brooke Cain is a North Carolina native who has worked at The News & Observer and McClatchy for more than 30 years as a researcher, reporter and media writer. She is the National Service Journalism Editor for McClatchy.