Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Name Discrimination
You always here about different types of discrimination - people who are racist, homophobic, biased or whatnot.....now how about name discrimination? I have an unusual name, I understand that. Now, on their own, Mary and Leah are perfectly normal names and shouldn't present a problem. Leah might get spelled wrong (Lea, Lia) but not too difficult, right? Well, my parents, in all their wisdom, decided to put a HYPHEN in my name. Not that unusual, except that most hyphenated names these days are last names, not first names. So, that sometimes throws people for a loop (is that her first name? Or her last name?) but even then I don't run into too much trouble. Sometimes when people HEAR my name, they furrow their brows and can't quite put it all together. One man even said to Jeff once, "Oh, is your wife Hawaiian?" (Being from the midwest, we tend to say my name "Mara-Leah" and run it all together really fast, so it comes out sounding like Maraleah, and, presumably, sounds Hawaiian?). Jeff said he considered telling him my middle name was "Comeoniwannalayya". But I digress. I've become accustomed to spelling my name.....M-A-R-Y-hyphen-.......and that's where people get lost! What is a hyphen? Who really knows anymore? Who uses punctuation? One time someone wrote an apostrophe instead. Semi-colon anyone? But back to the discrimination. I was in a coffee shop the other day ordering drinks for Jeff and I. I ordered his first and they made their precise, sharp little X's on all the appropriate boxes (decaf, X, tall, X) then said "name?" I replied "Jeff" and she wrote "Jeff" on the cup and handed it off to the barista. I then placed my drink order (decaf, X, tall X, no whip, X) and she chirped "name?" to which I replied "Mary-Leah" as distinctly as I could (I try to help people out by speaking clearly). She wrote "M" and then gave me a look as if I had just asked her to hand over all the money in the till, viciously scratched out the "M" with her wicked black Sharpie marker and wrote "Jeff" on my cup as well! Jeff? Do I look like a Jeff to you? How rude! I told Jeff, this has happened to me enough already! I'm going to come up with an alter ego name I can put on coffee cups, reservations, name tags, etc. Hello, my name is ______. Any suggestions? Send me your ideas. So far I've come up with KiKi (mine) and Muffin (Tonya's).
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4 comments:
Your name issues are the main reason we didn't make CheyAnn Chey-Ann like we initially were going to. This is the first year in school that they got her name correct on her name tags for her desk, coat hook, etc. And the only reason it was probably right is because her teacher is a friend of ours. She will always have problems with the capital A in the middle of her name.
You are Mo and will always be Mo as long as you live! Embrace it already! It is one of my favorite names (Maddy even has a motocross friend named Moe) I bet you will get WAY weirder looks if you pipe up "My name is Mo" Lol!
Love, M2
P.S. For whatever reason, my nickname at work has become DeMonica. A smart guy I work with once said working with me was like working with a Dervish. Someone who is dumber than a box of rocks overheard it and thought that word meant "demon" and the name was created and stuck - 5 years now...SIGH!
You could always pay a fee and change your name to something that isn't so hard to deal with! I hate my name and always have...D I A N N E....who? had to put two N's AND an E in my name? I have come to accept any spelling of it as long as people know it's Dianne! I always wanted to be a Valerie, Natalie or Victoria!!! But noooo...I get named Dianne (2n's/1 e)...I know a really white trash girl named Kiki, so please pick something else! MariaElana...haha Love you! Let me know what you chose so we'll know whom to ask for when we call! LOLOL
Well, while we're all harping on our names, I might as well give it a go! :) "Sydney... like Australia." I've been called Cindy and spelled "Sidney" my whole life, and I HATE the name Cindy! Hate hate hate. That was compounded when I met my husband and his last girlfriend's name was Cyndi. Ugh! I've been nicknamed "Al" (short for "Aussie Lass") and "Melbourne" (for obvious reasons)...
But... I love my name. Now. I hated it when I was younger because it was so uncommon, but then and now, I always know when I over-hear people talking about me! I like our unusual names. They fit the unusual people. :)
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