How do you pronounce 'mysh'?

Introduction

I have been developing a MySQL connection manager called mysh. Since I started distributing it via Homebrew and people outside my company have started using it, I suddenly realized:

"Wait, how should people pronounce this?"

mysh. Four letters. It looks simple, but it turns out to be surprisingly difficult to pronounce. This article is a casual record of how I decided on the pronunciation while brainstorming with Claude Code.

The first candidate was "Mish"

When I casually asked Claude, "I want to decide how to pronounce 'mysh', something easy for foreigners to say," the first answer that came back was "mish".

Here were the reasons provided:

• It's one syllable and rhymes with fish.
• It retains the sound of "My Shell."
• It's similar to how zsh is pronounced "zee-sh."

For a moment, I thought, "Oh, that might be good," but the spelling remains mysh. My intuition kicked in here.

"If you see 'mysh', wouldn't you definitely read it as 'my-...'?"

When I asked that, Claude immediately retracted its statement. The gist of the response was, "Honestly, English speakers probably won't naturally read it as 'mish'."

I thought, "You should have told me that from the start!" but the explanation made sense:

• Words starting with my are overwhelmingly pronounced with the "my" sound, like my, myself, or MySQL.
• The pronunciation shifts to an "i" sound only when sandwiched between consonants, like in gym, myth, or system.
• Although mysh is technically sandwiched between consonants, since its origin is MySQL, the my- at the beginning will inevitably be pulled toward the "my" sound.

In other words, spelling it mysh and expecting it to be read as "mish" creates such a large gap between spelling and pronunciation that I would end up having to explain it in the README every time.

The options were narrowed down to three

To summarize:

Option	Pronunciation	Pros	Cons
A. Stay mysh, read as "M-Y-S-H"	M-Y-S-H	No explanation needed	Boring, confusing with ssh
B. Rename to mish	Mish	Short and catchy	Migration cost for existing users
C. Stay mysh, read as "My-sh"	/maɪʃ/	Reads naturally, makes sense as my + sh	New pronunciation, needs a quick note

Option B is the cleanest, but there are already people who have installed it via brew tap atani/tap. Replacing all go install paths, configuration directories, and Homebrew Formulas just because I was bothered by the pronunciation is not worth it. I created the DBeaver connection import feature specifically to lower migration costs. I feel conflicted about creating migration costs myself simply due to a rename.

So, it really came down to A or C.

I decided on "My-sh"

In conclusion, I chose Option C: "My-sh" (/maɪʃ/).

• English speakers can read it naturally at first glance (my + sh).
• It maintains the association with MySQL (the my at the start).
• Lining it up with bash, zsh, and fish, the sh = shell connotation is also conveyed.
• It's two beats, short, and easy for Japanese speakers to say.
• Zero impact on existing users.

I just added this to the beginning of the README:

# mysh

MySQL connection manager with SSH tunnel support.

*Pronounced "my-sh" (/maɪʃ/), like "my shell".*

I've submitted this as PR #62. The change was just two lines.

Lesson Learned: Design Spelling and Pronunciation Together to Avoid Regrets Later

This was my biggest takeaway from this experience.

When deciding on a tool name, if you decide only on the spelling and leave the pronunciation for later, these small liabilities will eventually add up. You end up having to include a "Pronunciation" section at the beginning of your README every time, or you have to explain "How should this be pronounced?" during oral presentations.

Conversely, if you imagine "how would a first-time user read this?" the moment you decide on the spelling, things will likely change for the better. I'm glad I realized this, even if it was a bit late.

The fish shell README has almost no pronunciation explanation. That is because it has the advantage of being a common English word that everyone knows how to read. For coined names, it is more thoughtful to include a brief note.

Conclusion

So, please pronounce mysh as "my-sh". When introducing it to non-Japanese speakers, if you rephrase it as "my-shell for MySQL," it gets the point across instantly, so that is also a handy tip to remember.

By the way, this naming meeting was settled in about 10 minutes while brainstorming with Claude Code. If I had thought about it alone, I definitely would have stuck with "M-Y-S-H," so it served as a reminder that AI is quite useful when you just need a sounding board.

If I have the opportunity to speak somewhere, I will confidently use "my-sh."

Further Reading

• mysh - Created a MySQL connection manager for the AI era — The original motivation for creating mysh. Discusses masking personal information when letting Claude Code access production databases.
• Now you can migrate connection settings from DBeaver, Sequel Ace, and Workbench with a single command — All about how you can migrate from existing DB clients instantly.
• mysh v0.5.1 — Added Windows binary distribution, Redash integration, and shared connection settings — How non-engineers can now safely access databases via Redash.