It's 'comma-la': How to pronounce Kamala Harris' name

When Harris, the newly announced vice presidential pick of the 2020 Democratic ticket, was running for the US Senate in 2016, she posted a campaign video that showed kids explaining how to pronounce her first name correctly.

"It's not CAM-EL-UH. It's not KUH-MAHL-UH. It's not KARMEL-UH," the kids said in the video. Each incorrect variation was spelled out and crossed off on screen.

Kamala is pronounced "'comma-la,' like the punctuation mark," according to the California senator. Harris wrote in the preface of her 2019 memoir, "The Truths We Hold," "First, my name is pronounced 'comma-la,' like the punctuation mark. It means 'lotus flower,' which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture. A lotus grows underwater, its flower rising above the surface while its roots are planted firmly in the river bottom."

If elected in November, Harris will become the nation's first Indian-American vice president, the first Black vice president, the first female vice president and the first Jamaican-American vice president. Harris' father was born in Jamaica and her late mother was born in India.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced he was choosing Harris to be his running mate on Tuesday, and Biden and Harris are scheduled to accept their nominations next week at the Democratic National Convention. The pair appeared in their first joint appearance on Wednesday.

Despite Harris's national stature, having been a sitting US senator since 2017 and having run a presidential campaign last year, President Donald Trump has repeatedly mispronounced her name at recent public events. After Harris was announced as Biden's pick on Tuesday, Trump mispronounced the senator's first name at least twice during his press conference from the White House.

Later that night, Fox News' Tucker Carlson became visibly angry when a guest on his show corrected Carlson's pronunciation of the senator's name.

Carlson said, "So I'm disrespecting her by mispronouncing her name unintentionally. So it begins, you're not allowed to criticize Kuh-MAH-la Harris, or CA-muh-la, or whatever."