Want to be notified of new posts? Get the RSS Feed or Register by Email
The Name Thing
This post has 292 views
My name is Annette. In French and English it’s pronounced Ah-Nett.
That’s not my name.
My name is An-neddeh, or for English speakers, Annetta. Close enough. But it is such a relief to be with other Danish speakers, either in Denmark or abroad and not have to explain how my name is pronounced. Even my difficult last name (anglecized because of a Danish vowel-we have 3 more than English) is a non-issue to other Danes. I go to great pains to pronounce other people’s names correctly (i.e., as they themselves wish it pronounced), and I bet this is a very common TCK issue. Not much comes closer to the core of identity than the name we were given or the one we choose to be known by.
As a child, I allowed others to call me Ah-Nett, but as an adult I have insisted that people get as close to my real name as possible. Does this strike a chord with anyone?
What do you think of this post?
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Related Posts
Comments
16 Responses to “The Name Thing”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
-
Top Commentators
- Ayako (781)
- Cynthia (554)
- miyon (505)
- Uncle Dan (502)
- mairabay (368)
- kristine (363)
- MsMerising (279)
- mmmmmm (249)
- marie (229)
- Cattt (224)
Polls
Loading ...
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 am
My first name is easy to pronounce in most languages. I can live with whatever way people pronounce “Patricia” I just don’t like it when they give me nicknames derived from that name. -__-; I don’t know, it just sounds weird to me. Anywho, it’s my last name that have people confused! Americans say: No-set-ee, No-se-tea, or the cringe worthy No-sed-dee.xD
It bugs me to no end cause it just sounds horrid to me so I instinctively smile when a Spanish person pronounces correctly. Haha, but then again I had a hard time pronouncing my last name as a kid so I can’t say I blame them.^_^
(Is this spam?)
August 4th, 2008 at 12:54 am
I was named Anayawa after my grandma from my father’s side. Now my mother is of another tribe and her side of the family found it hard to pronounce my name so they all call me Ana.
My name is a rare name. Most people find it hard to say, so I let them cut it short and there are so many variants I’ve been called depending on who I’m with - Ana, Anya, Anicka, Anita, Ann… But I don’t like Annie.
My last name is equally difficult for some people.
I don’t take it personal if people mispronounce my name.
(Is this spam?)
August 4th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Lol, yea I can relate.
My nickame is Selam. My whole first name is Selamawit.
…and there are sooo many mispronunciations of both of them, so I won’t get into that. The correct pronunciation though is “seh-lam” and “seh-lam-a-weet”
Selam means “peace”, it is also used as a greeting to say hello in my language (trigrinya). As well as in other languages, there are many variations of it.
Example: Salamalekum (Urdu)
Selamawit means peaceful. I was named peaceful because the year I was born (1990) was when the in war my country (Eritrea) agaisnt Ethiopia was coming to end.
Independence was gaines a year after in 1991.
(Is this spam?)
August 5th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
i think tat’s why we chinese kids all give ourselves enlish names even if we haven’t had one before.
(Is this spam?)
August 5th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
mmmmm: yup, that’s the reason why I am Cynthia. I’ve had varied versions of my Chinese names and sometimes it’s just so hard to respond to all of them lol
(Is this spam?)
August 6th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Not many people know my chinese name, I just use my english name. It’s harder to have to explain why you’re [insert english name here] instead of [insert chinese name here]. It’s odd though, one time during my subject selection, the deputy head of my school called me up and asked me why I hadn’t handed my form in yet, when really, I was one of the first ones who’d handed it in! I should’ve realised something was up though, when he kept calling me by my chinese name instead of my english name. I had to go through the entire pile of forms, only to find it right at the back and I had to tell him that no one really knew my chinese name, everyone called me MICHELLE.
(Is this spam?)