Having suffered for over 50 years with a name like "Anmol", I can relate to your posts on so many different levels! I have been Animal, Animol, and most commonly Amnol during my time in the UK, because of course "m" must necessarily precede "n"! My porter at Oriel College, Oxford would scratch his head and say, "can't I just call you Ann?" and I would respond with "not if you are expecting an answer! It's just one more syllable, how hard can it be?". It took him 3 years to get it right!
It happens between UK countries too. A friend called Rhian had to go by her second name, Hannah, because the English couldn't deal with her Welsh name. And it's really not an uncommon name.
Hilarious post Pallavi, but true. With roots in South India, specifically "Gods own country" I have witnessed, the challenge in pronouncing names or the fun / anger / angst when names are mispronounced for the umpteenth time.
Some time ago I chanced upon a tome of work, penned by a sage named 'the madman', where the formula used to arrive at names for Malayalee's was decoded. You can access the great piece of work at https://themadman.livejournal.com/10837.html
I love this Pallavi. Had to chuckle throughout reading this particular one. Sharing this with my coworkers!
I think I am just super steadfast with making sure people can pronounce my name. I will drill into them how to pronounce my name properly -- I don't think it's a particularly difficult name, hahah.
Great column. I had to laugh out loud at the insight you gave us about your father-in-law's conservatism: "When our first child, a boy, was about to be born and we were discussing potential names my father-in-law imaginatively suggested we choose Julio."
My personal contribution is that Spaniards cannot deal with a familiar name that is spelt a different way to that which they know, like mine: Raphael rather than Rafael. So my health social security card had to be redone two times and still currently reads Rafhael, because the clerk at least understood that there was a weird "h" that had to be inserted somewhere.
After several such initial mishaps, however, I discovered that the best way to avoid problems is to say that I am named after "the great singer Raphael," a counterpart to Julio Iglesias. "Aaaah... great name!" is what I normally get in reply, especially from 60+ who consider Raphael to be the hottest voice to have ever released a record in Spain.
My name is S Subramanian where S stands for my father's first name Srinivasan. Several amusing anecdotes starting from " no family name??" to please write in full - Srinivasan Subramanian and what his fathers name (several applications including passport require that) - Subramanian Srinivasan!! People are totally flummoxed
How strange! My Chinese students had no difficult calling me Iyer. But then, they got great jobs and helped their country. Has it occurred to you that Chinese people thought you vain, stupid, ignorant, and a worthless waste of space?
Still, so long as you keep 'Spanish Musicologists' from making my coffee here in London- you too, worthless anti-nationalist, serve the higher Iyer cause.
We used to refer to one of our neighbours as A to Z Rao in deference to the innumerable initials that he prefixed Rao with.
Having suffered for over 50 years with a name like "Anmol", I can relate to your posts on so many different levels! I have been Animal, Animol, and most commonly Amnol during my time in the UK, because of course "m" must necessarily precede "n"! My porter at Oriel College, Oxford would scratch his head and say, "can't I just call you Ann?" and I would respond with "not if you are expecting an answer! It's just one more syllable, how hard can it be?". It took him 3 years to get it right!
Where shall I begin? Jodi, Joyti, Jaw-ti, and the best (because they think I'm Hispanic!)- Ha-yo-tee!!!
Ha! Ha! or should I say, Ja! Ja! ?
It happens between UK countries too. A friend called Rhian had to go by her second name, Hannah, because the English couldn't deal with her Welsh name. And it's really not an uncommon name.
Hilarious post Pallavi, but true. With roots in South India, specifically "Gods own country" I have witnessed, the challenge in pronouncing names or the fun / anger / angst when names are mispronounced for the umpteenth time.
Some time ago I chanced upon a tome of work, penned by a sage named 'the madman', where the formula used to arrive at names for Malayalee's was decoded. You can access the great piece of work at https://themadman.livejournal.com/10837.html
Keep writing Ai Bei.......
Ha! Love it. Thanks for sharing the link.
What a wonderful post Maria Jose.. This could be a course
I love this Pallavi. Had to chuckle throughout reading this particular one. Sharing this with my coworkers!
I think I am just super steadfast with making sure people can pronounce my name. I will drill into them how to pronounce my name properly -- I don't think it's a particularly difficult name, hahah.
Great column. I had to laugh out loud at the insight you gave us about your father-in-law's conservatism: "When our first child, a boy, was about to be born and we were discussing potential names my father-in-law imaginatively suggested we choose Julio."
My personal contribution is that Spaniards cannot deal with a familiar name that is spelt a different way to that which they know, like mine: Raphael rather than Rafael. So my health social security card had to be redone two times and still currently reads Rafhael, because the clerk at least understood that there was a weird "h" that had to be inserted somewhere.
After several such initial mishaps, however, I discovered that the best way to avoid problems is to say that I am named after "the great singer Raphael," a counterpart to Julio Iglesias. "Aaaah... great name!" is what I normally get in reply, especially from 60+ who consider Raphael to be the hottest voice to have ever released a record in Spain.
Thanks Rafhael!
My name is S Subramanian where S stands for my father's first name Srinivasan. Several amusing anecdotes starting from " no family name??" to please write in full - Srinivasan Subramanian and what his fathers name (several applications including passport require that) - Subramanian Srinivasan!! People are totally flummoxed
So in Starbucks it is normally Subbu or Subra
How strange! My Chinese students had no difficult calling me Iyer. But then, they got great jobs and helped their country. Has it occurred to you that Chinese people thought you vain, stupid, ignorant, and a worthless waste of space?
Still, so long as you keep 'Spanish Musicologists' from making my coffee here in London- you too, worthless anti-nationalist, serve the higher Iyer cause.