pronunciation - Which is the correct way to refer to the letter "Z" — "Zee" or "Zed"?

So I am giving a presentation to an American audience tomorrow, and I have rather cluelessly labeled some components on a Powerpoint slide using the alphabet. When I talk about "component Z", I want to say the right thing. It's too late in the night now to re-label with numbers. I grew up calling it "Zed", but noticed many Americans prefer "Zee"; I want to be correct, not herd-minded.

Answer

The letter 'Z' is called:

• 'Zed' (/zɛd/) in British English and Commonwealth English (i.e., UK, Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, etc.)
  Note that this is also close to its name in several non-English languages: "zeta in Italian and in Spanish, zäta in Swedish, zet in Dutch, Polish, German, Romanian and Czech, zæt in Danish, zett in Norwegian, zède in French, and zê in Portuguese" (all names ultimately derived from the Greek letter zeta).




• 'Zee' (/ziː/) in American English and Newfoundland English (parts of Canada)





• 'Izzard' (/ˈɪzərd/) in Scottish English.

Now for which you should use in your case:

• The US almost exclusively uses 'Zee'. This is how it's taught to children in schools, and the name they're familiar with. If you use 'Zed' in your presentation, you call attention (a little) to your non-US-ness. Whether this is good or bad is for you to decide.




• On the other hand, if you use 'Zee' and the audience consists of a large number of non-Americans (which is possible at a university) or people who otherwise expect you to say 'Zed', some observant ones may notice that you chose to change your normal pronunciation. :-)




• From experience, it is my impression that most Americans are either aware of the alternative pronunciation 'Zed' or (more likely) can understand what you mean from context. So the probability of actual confusion is small, I feel, though the probability of distraction may be high enough for you to choose 'Zee'.