Mayor Pete Buttigieg is one of the ten presidential candidates who will take part in this week's 2020 Democratic debate.

Despite his popularity, many people are still confused about how to pronounce his name—including Oprah Winfrey, who admit she calls him "Buttabeep, Buttaboop."

Luckily for us, Buttigieg's husband Chasten has shared a handy guide to the multiple correct pronunciations of his last name.

The first 2020 Democratic presidential debates will take place tonight (Wednesday June 26) and tomorrow night (Thursday June 27) in Miami, airing from 9 PM to 11 PM ET on NBC. (More info on how to watch here!) Tomorrow night's lineup includes Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who has gone from dark horse to potential frontrunner since his official campaign announcement in April. But aside from his politics, there remains a lingering question about Buttigieg, which is about...the name Buttigieg. How do you pronounce it?

If you've tripped over the name yourself, don't feel bad—even Oprah herself has gotten it confused. "I call him Buttabeep, Buttaboop," she told The Hollywood Reporter in April. "The name's either going to really hurt or [really help]—I think it's going to help, actually," she continued, before going on to casually reveal that she'd recently been singing the praises of "Buttabeep, Buttaboop" to none other than Steven Spielberg.

While this nickname is pretty hilarious (not to mention fun to say!) it's probably only fair that we all learn how to pronounce Buttigieg's unusual last name properly. So... How do you pronounce Buttigieg?

As it turns out, there is no single answer. But thankfully, Mr. Buttigieg himself–the Mayor's, husband Chasten–shared all of the possible pronunciations via Twitter. They are:

Boot-edge-edge

Buddha-judge

Boot-a-judge

Boo-tuh-judge

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Options:



boot-edge-edge



or



Buddha-judge



or



Boot-a-judge



or



Boo-tuh-judge — Chasten Buttigieg (@Chasten) December 17, 2018

So there you have it: This is really a Choose Your Own Adventure situation—although Buttigieg's own Twitter bio does recommend the first option: "Boot-edge-edge," and his campaign is already selling a fun range of "Boot-Edge-Edge" merchandise.

Now that that quandary is out of the way, here's a quick rundown of what else you need to know about Pete Boot-Edge-Edge.

Buttigieg has been Mayor of South Bend, Indiana for eight years. He was first elected in 2011, and took office at the age of 29. During his reelection campaign, he came out as gay, and was subsequently reelected in 2015. During an appearance with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in April, Buttigieg discussed his reasons for not coming out until he was 33. "I guess I really needed to not be [gay]," he said. "There's this war that breaks out inside a lot of people when they realize that they might be something they're afraid of. It took me a very long time to resolve that."

Joe Raedle Getty Images

Buttigieg is now happily married to Chasten, whom he met on the dating app Hinge in 2015. The couple just celebrated their first wedding anniversary, and have adopted a pair of adorable dogs, Truman and Buddy, who have their own Twitter account.

Buttigieg is also a veteran, having served as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves for six years, and was deployed to Afghanistan for six months. "It helps me demonstrate the difference between how I'm oriented and how the current President is," Buttigieg has said of his military service. "We responded to the country's call to serve in very different ways."



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If he were to win the election, Buttigieg would be both the youngest and the first openly gay American president in history. His campaign did hit a recent roadblock on home turf, following the fatal shooting of Eric Logan, a Black man, by a white South Bend police officer. The incident reignited criticism of Buttigieg's failure to respond adequately to police misconduct—and his broader handling of racial and economic issues. He returned to South Bend from the campaign trail following the shooting, and held a tense town hall meeting with residents over the weekend.

It remains to be seen whether Buttigieg has what it takes to go the distance, particularly in an unusually stacked Democratic race. But as of now, he's not the long shot he first appeared to be: The latest polls have him either in fifth place in the race for the Democratic nomination, or vying with Senator Kamala Harris for fourth place in the running.

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