How do you pronounce JK Rowling's surname? We know how she pronounces it – in her recent interview in Weekend magazine she made it clear it rhymes with "bowling" – and yet she also said she never corrects anyone any more and that in the States her name is almost exclusively pronounced so that it rhymes with "howling".

Why all the confusion? Her surname, in one of its optional pronunciations, rhymes with mine, but I've never heard anyone mispronounce mine and call me "Doughling". Perhaps it's because the word "row" has two pronunciations. We have the same issue with "bow", and hence with David Bowie's surname – does it rhyme with Maui, or doughy? Americans tend toward the latter, perhaps in unconscious homage to pioneer and Bowie-knife inventor Jim Bowie (he died at the Alamo), although it is my understanding that he pronounced his surname – and his knife – so it rhymed with "chewy".

The "ow" vowel sound – the one you find in "cow" – is probably the default option for most people, but there are enough exceptions to the rule to provoke constant uncertainty, especially when it comes to something as personal as a name. Words are easy because they have meanings – a non-native speaker who asks someone if they would like to go bowelling soon learns from his mistake – but in the end the only real authority on the matter of JK Rowling's surname is JK Rowling, and she has more or less said she doesn't care. So you can pick your preference. Charles and Jonathan Powell pronounce their surnames differently – rhyming them with "toll" and "towel" respectively – and they're brothers. If that's allowed, then, frankly, anything goes.

One question remains: what do you do when an unholy acronym – a word God never meant for us to say out loud – happens to have to incorporate this notorious difficulty? You don't have to be a fan of The Only Way is Essex to have wondered how the hell you're supposed to pronounce Towie.