Hearing your name mispronounced is not the most horrible
experience when you have to go through it once but having to go through it many
times a day can start getting on your nerves.
For all those that have names which are a bit more on an
authentic side or for all those that are simply not British it can become very
frustrating having to correct others on what you actually like to be called.
So, a trend came in place where many simply choose to change their names from
Ksenia to Katie or from Huyung Sup Lim to William.
It’s a matter of practicality, most would say. Using a ‘fake’
name to order a pizza because you don’t want to play Chinese whispers with
every employee of the company is certainly understandable.
However, does adopting an Anglicized name even remotely
bring you closer to those around you is a real dilemma. On one hand, it
certainly would make your life easier as worrying about legal documents getting
misspelt would end and your friends would be less inclined to twist your name
into a silly nickname.
On the other hand, it takes away something that was once
given to you and probably has a lot of meaning.
In most cases, you will miss people calling you your actual name and
maybe even not respond when people will address you with your new name.
It’s a part of you and your personality; your name is your
identity. It’s only reasonable that you have it and it does not change
depending on where you go or where you move. If someone coming from a different
country has no problems pronouncing names like Jack, Sarah, Hannah and Charlie,
why can’t everyone just try to be as concerned with pronouncing other names
correctly that don’t fall into the ‘popular name’ category.
A lot of people are stereotyped by their names as someone
with a more ethnic name will come off as more foreign. That doesn’t however
mean that it’s a good idea to change your name to something that others will
feel is more fitting in the country where you are residing. Stereotypes like
that shouldn’t even be a problem in the modern world where there is simply too
much moving around from country to country. Also, if you think about it, it is
now extremely popular to name your newborn with a rare name!
Through personal experience with my very complicated last
name, I know that it is tempting to simply ask people to call you something
else. Nevertheless, over time it gets easier as you start to realize that if
you are putting effort into pronouncing everyone’s names right, they should
have time to learn how to say yours.
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