Then there's NBC's "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien... should it be "Coh-nun" or "Coh-nan (with a short 'a' as in 'nanny')"?

And what about the Americanization of the word "aunt" (pronounced "ant" by many, including myself)? (I think it would've annoyed my spinster Aunt Alice if I'd called her "ahnt"!)

As to my own name, half the people I know pronounce "Sharon" with a short 'a', the other half with a long 'a'. I'll answer to either (eether? ayther?), but I prefer the long 'a' since that's the way my family pronounces it.

Of course, since the '70s, a lot of people have called me "Sharona"....