What's in a Name?

Often, when I meet new people, they start by asking how to pronounce my name. I know that they do this out of respect, aware that others are often sensitive about how their names are pronounced—but personally, I couldn’t care less how anyone pronounces my name. I grew up in a multilingual environment, and my name sounds a little different in each of my seven languages. I never had a chance to get attached to any particular pronunciation.

?

“But what’s the correct pronunciation?” people sometimes ask. “How did your mother pronounce it? How do your friends say it? How should I say it? Please, just tell me!”

?

“I don’t even know how to pronounce it,” I usually answer. “Just say it however you want!”

?

For some people, this is enough, but others continue to worry that if their tongues slip, they’ll offend me. Some people do, indeed, take offense when others mispronounce their names, so I understand where this fear comes from.

However, I view the situation this way: different names derive from different languages. Different languages have different speech sounds and phonetic rules. Sometimes, no matter how hard someone tries, they won’t be able to pronounce a name from another language exactly as it is pronounced by native speakers. That’s okay. Instead of fixating on phonetics, let’s focus on intent. If someone wants to meet, connect, and collaborate on a project, instead of raising artificial barriers, let’s find common ground, acknowledge that we’re all imperfect human beings, and see what we can accomplish together.