Timothée Chalamet explains how to pronounce his name: ‘My parents cursed me with that’

Actor’s name comes from his French parents

Timothée Chalamet has been opening up about the pronunciation of his name, and why he blames his parents.

On Thursday 1 February, the Wonka star was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! when the host pointed out that there was an accent over one of the e’s in his name, which he’d never realised before.

“Honestly, it’s ‘Tim-oh-teh,’” Chalamet shared. “But I would not oblige you to say it like that and it can be Timothy or Timmy or Doug or Allen.”

“It’s ‘Tim-oh-teh?’ ” Kimmel asked.

“That’s what it was supposed to be — my parents cursed me with that,” the actor responded.

“They did? And you were like: ‘No, I’m not going along with that,’” the late night host joked, to which Chalamet confirmed: “I’m not going along with that so, it’s whatever you like.”

However, Kimmel thought the actor’s name made sense because both his first and last name rhyme. But the Little Women alum chimed in to point out that his middle name ruins it.

“My middle name is Hal, which breaks it up in a ... it breaks it up in a bizarre way,” Chalamet explained. One of the show’s other guests, actress Florence Pugh, agreed, adding: “That’s not the flow.”

Recently, Pugh posed with Chalamet’s rumoured girlfriend, Kylie Jenner. The beauty mogul, 26, and the British actor, 28, were twinning at the Valentino haute couture show on 24 January, where Jenner famously brought her five-year-old daughter Stormi Webster as her date. The pair eagerly snapped photos together before the show, with Jenner pretending to kiss Pugh’s cheek as the Don’t Worry Darling star let out a laugh.

Pugh - who has been a brand ambassador for the French fashion house since last year - wore a sleek, black one-shoulder gown to the fashion show. She paired the look with gold hoop earrings, her signature septum piercing, and a Valentino “V” motif gold cuff bracelet. Meanwhile, the Kardashians star donned a strapless black dress, complete with large gold earrings and a black fluffy shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

It’s no secret that Jenner’s boyfriend Chalamet has formed a close friendship with Pugh over the years. The actors played love interests in the Greta Gerwig adaptation of Little Women in 2019. They’re set to star alongside each other once more in the second instalment of Dune this March.

Speaking to Variety in November 2022, Chalamet gushed over his former co-star and expressed his excitement to reunite with her in Dune 2. “We were joking on set that we keep doing these movies, and we end up together even though we should be ending up with different people,” he said about Pugh. “Florence is really special. She’s an incredible actor.”

As for Pugh, she once revealed the endearing nickname she has for the 28-year-old Wonka star. “I accidentally called him Timothée Chalamala-bing-bong to his face,” she recalled to The Guardian in 2018. “He was like: ‘What?’ And I was like: ‘Nothing!’”

The Call Me By Your Name star has reportedly been dating the Kylie Cosmetics founder since April 2023. While they’ve kept details of their romance private, Chalamet and Jenner made multiple public appearances together over the summer. They confirmed their rumoured relationship in September when they attended a Beyoncé concert together, before engaging in public displays of affection at the US Open later that month.