ATHENS — There’s a new name starting at safety for the Georgia Bulldogs.

It’s Quincy Mauger. And while you may recognize the spelling, we’ve all been pronouncing it wrong all along. Turns out that Mauger is of Haitian descent and his last name should be pronounced mo-ZHAY, as it would be in French Creole.

Mauger said that’s always the way it has been pronounced. He has simply answered to the English pronunciation of it — MAW-ger — until finally succumbing to the wishes of his mother before this, his senior season.

“That’s actually my name,” said Mauger, a 6-foot, 200-pound strong safety, said of the mo-SHAY pronunciation. “Both my father and my mother are from Haiti. I’m originally from West Palm Beach myself, but they’re both from Haiti and moved to Florida when they were real young. It’s always been mo-ZHAY.”

Mauger said he tried to get it changed before his junior year but was too late to get it included on the pronunciation chart in the media guide. So he just rolled with MAW-ger for one more year.

But his mother, Sandra Alexandre, insisted he get it fixed before this season.

“We’re getting it right this time,” Mauger said with a laugh when asked about it after Thursday’s practice. “They were definitely giving me a hard time when they were even saying MAW-ger wrong. My mom wanted me to get it right.”

Mauger said people have been butchering the pronunciation of his last name throughout his career.

“Ah, man, Monger, Maw-her, Mooger, I’ve gotten it all,” he said, chuckling. “I don’t get it. But English is MAW-ger and French-Creole is Mo-ZHAY.”

Mauger certainly has earned the right to have his name pronounced correctly. After coming to UGA as a 3-star prospect out of Marietta’s Kell High School, he has played in all 39 of the Bulldogs’ games the past three seasons, starting 25 of them. He has piled up 166 tackles, 5 interceptions and 9 pass break-ups in that time.

He also has quietly become the leader of a defensive secondary that led the nation in pass defense a year ago and returns intact. To that end, he’ll never do much in the way of providing insight on what the lineup my look like any given week or what players are standing out where.

As ever, Mauger will only toe the party line when it comes to talking about his unit’s performance.

“I can tell you one thing: offense, defense and special teams has definitely been doing a great job, showing great tempo, physical, and great tenacity,” he said. “We’re getting after it every day and not letting up.”

Georgia has at least one other player on its roster of Haitian descent. That’s Sony Michel.

It’s a conversation for another day, but Mauger pronounced his teammate’s name as ME-shell.