Well, me, I had never talked or heard anyone talk in "real"-life about nginx before up until one month ago and apparently, it's pronounced that way.

Look here: http://wiki.nginx.org/Pronunciation

I have literally never heard it called anything else, even before it started getting traction. I'm curious how you've heard it said before?

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nginx

How on earth else would you pronounce it? Now, lighttpd, on the other hand ...

I've always pronounced it "en gee eye en ecks".

Not the most elegant, but it rolls of the tongue relatively well and nobody who was familiar with nginx has ever been confused.