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What is the proper pronunciation of "Rand"?

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It's pronounced Rand, of course (rhymes with "and").

That's the way it was pronounced countless times in Miss Rand's presence, at lectures in New York City; on the "Ayn Rand on Campus" radio programs in the 1960s; and at the Ford Hall Forum. I've never once heard of her complaining about or correcting that pronunciation.

And Ayn rhymes with "mine" or "pine."

To create "Ayn," Miss Rand adapted the first name of a woman Finnish writer, Aino or Aina (I forget which). [That account, reported in a magazine in the early 1960s, was confirmed by Michael Berliner.] Aino was also the first name of the wife of Jan Sibelius, one of the world's most famous composers as the young Alissa Rosenbaum was growing up. In 1904 he named his villa Ainola.

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  • 5 years later...
... or the name of the corporation that manufactured her typewriter.
This is an ancient thread, but the story that Rand got the idea for her last name from the name of a typewriter is a common one. Rand fans who're interested in such sundry tit-bits might be interested in this web-site, where the author tries to prove the typewriter could not have been the source of the name.
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