My brother has decided (half seriously, half jokingly) that, at select times in his waking life (and perhaps in his dreams, too), he will take up an English name: Brad.
While I find this incredibly amusing and have dismissed this as pure talk on his part, I think he is motivated by a deep sense of frustration at people's inability to pronounce and spell his name. They just don't *get it*. The language barriers on their part are insurmountable, so he feels compelled to assist the world in acknowledging his name. If they can't do it, he will accommodate their deficiencies by changing his label. (I feel differently, but you've already heard about that before.)
We were at Rubio's one day, and he decided to test his new name... so Brad ordered a burrito and gave his name to the cashier, only to have the cashier throw it back in his face. "Bread? Huh? Can you spell that?"
Brad was not amused. TA was not amused. Granted, the cashier was hard of hearing. Nevertheless, it was irksome that his attempt of giving the Anglicized name didn't carry over too well and he was once again having to reiterate names to a stranger.
I was amused. Very much so. I've never truly believed, in jest or in seriousness, that changing my name would help people know me or understand my person better. In fact, when they are truly interested in getting to know me, they would inquire about my name and how to accurately pronounce or spell it. If they choose to dismiss me and not interact with me as a person, most of the time, they will be inclined to do so whether my name is Josephine or Mary or Fredrika or HAT.
When we were younger, my mom, sister and I used to joke that we might one day change our names to Rosemary. We'd all be Rosemary. Wherever we go, all three of us would use the name Rosemary, and people would have to figure out how else to differentiate us from one another.
If given the chance, would I change my name? What are the pros and cons of doing something like that? How could I imagine hearing myself called by any other name?
2 comments:
There is a catwalk/photo model named Snejana (pronounced like my name) and I'm praying to goddess of fashion that the girl becomes a global supermodel and then people around the world will be able to pronounce my name. Go, Snejana! Do it for all of your namesakes!
I've known a couple of people with difficult to pronounce names who gave in and just rechristened themselves-- Emeus became Justin, Shin-je became Sarah. But sometimes, as a person with a perfectly easy to pronounce, fairly common name, I wish I could do the same thing in reverse, and show up one day somewhere as Lorelei.
Lorelei would like a burrito now. Spell it as you see fit!
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