Mnuchin: playing the name game over a top Trump pick

So, how do you pronounce the last name of Steven Mnuchin, the banker, Hollywood producer and political fundraiser tapped by President-elect Donald Trump as the next Treasury secretary?

Well, give it your best shot -- you probably won't be far wrong.

A quick online search produced an impressive array of variations.

The New York Times, the paper of Mnuchin's hometown, offered "mi-NEW-chin." The Washington Post, the paper of his future home if he is confirmed by the Senate, suggested the slightly broader-sounding "mah-NEW-chin."

And Salon.com took an in-between approach, with "meh'NEW'-chen."

Mnuchin was for years a partner at Goldman Sachs -- and the son of a partner at Goldman Sachs -- so it seemed logical to query the media office of the famous investment banking firm.

But a very polite media rep there placed a reporter on a rather extended hold -- and then came back to ask for a bit more time -- because she was finding that "everybody pronounces it differently."

Turns out Mnuchin's father, Robert Mnuchin, was an art dealer in addition to having been an investment banker. An employee at the Mnuchin Gallery in Manhattan made it clear that the establishment has no connection to Steven Mnuchin -- but she allowed that father and son did pronounce their name the same way:

M'noo-shin.

And that's pretty close to the way the Goldman Sachs media rep pronounced it when she finally finished her survey: M'noo-chin.

But just to be on the safe side, she declined to give her own name.