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My cousin Osama is a doctor and he just moved to New York for a really
good job opportunity; except Osama now goes by the name of “Sam”. I understand
why Osama changed his name; of course no one wants to be associated with one of
the most evil men that ever lived, especially in New York .
Now I guess Osama is one exception I can handle when it
comes to people changing their names to sound more western, but for the most
part it really bothers me. I don’t even know why it bothers me so much, people
should be aloud to do whatever they want and make their own choices but I rant
about it all the time anyways
People change their name to more western sounding names for
usually two reasons- to seem more integrated or because their western sounding
name is easier for people to say. Mohammed becomes Moe, Moussa becomes Moe,
Mahmoud becomes Moe, Belal becomes Bill, Salwa becomes Sue. Now how can you tell me that these ethnic sounding names sound nicer than these one syllable
boring names. Your name is essentially your identity, and I really think by
changing it you aren’t embracing your identity and culture.
Now my name is Fadia, and I’m pretty sure that isn’t really
that hard to say. Yet people are always messing it up. I get Fatia, Fadima,
Fatima, Nadia, Faddy- the list is endless. Now even though people are
constantly saying my name wrong or mixing it up with other “fat/fad” names, I
would never change it. People will always find a way to mess up your name no
matter how easy it is to say, but I do not feel the need to accommodate for
random strangers who can’t remember it when they first meet me.
In the end I people have the right to do whatever they
please, maybe they really do believe that Moe sounds better than Mohammed? I’m
just throwing an opinion out there. If you guys have some thoughts in regards
to this subject let me know! Do you agree? Disagree? Thank You!
-Fadia
Interesting post! I'm not to sure if I would agree or disagree, I kind of sit on the fence on this one! My full name is Jasmeen, but I’ve nick named myself to Jassy since elementary and ever since then that’s what my friends have called me. I used to never tell people my full name but recently I’ve started to tell a lot of my friends my full name and they actually like it. I guess I can see where you are coming from, your name is your identity and you should be proud of your name.
ReplyDeleteAlso I have started working at a new job and my name tag says my full name and I have gotten many compliments from people on my name.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important to get the person's name right, especially when I meet him/her the first time. It is just basic respect. Personally I think Canadians embrace the multiculturalism more than countries than US and Australia. People should not accommodate to others and say their real name. BTW my full name is Chung Din-Fung in Chinese lol.
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