Change your name!

Well last week I had a substitute teacher for Math (I'm a high school student) and he was struggling to pronounce my name (I live in the US). My name is Shweta. I pronounce my name Sh-way-ta...so ya its a bit americanized, my kindergarten teacher called me that so ever since I started going by that. Okay so back to my math class. A guy in my class said to me, "You should change your name, its too hard." Well me being me, I had to say something back. So I said, "If someone can't say my name, its not my problem its theirs then why should I change my name? Besides if you went to Japan and they said that your name was hard to say, would you also change your name?" I have nothing to be ashamed of my name, instead I'm proud of it. Proud that my name is not too common here. It seems like every girl in my class is named Ashley, Maddy, Emma, or Sarah. Having a different name is not a bad thing. And my name is very special to me because my grandma named me and I've grown up with this name. When I have kids, I will also give them Indian names and teach them to be proud of their name, their culture, and most importantly themselves! Now I'm not criticizing people who do choose to change their names, its entirely up to them because its their life. I don't know what experiences might have led them to a decision similar to this.

Would you change your name if it was hard to pronounce or "different"?
What would you have done if you were in my place?
Please discuss any of your thoughts, experiences, and questions about this issue.

I look forward to what all of you have to say! 😃

If they don't know your name, it's not because your name is hard to say. It's because to them you don't matter enough to bother learning it. Period. That said, (anecdote alert) if your name is more Western sounding, you get more job offers in corporate/entry level positions.

Originally posted by: DonnaHarvey

If they don't know your name, it's not because your name is hard to say. It's because to them you don't matter enough to bother learning it. Period. That said, (anecdote alert) if your name is more Western sounding, you get more job offers in corporate/entry level positions.

Don't be ashamed of correcting people if they mispronounce your name.

Essentially, I will not change my name. It's not that hard to say and if someone can't be bothered to learn it right, I ALSO can't be bothered to change it for their lazy arse.

Ya I totally agree with your last statement lol! But I guess it depends on what career you pursue that your name might affect your job. I think if your job has more interacting with people then your name might be an "issue". Correcting people...I do it once, twice, thrice, then I get sick of correcting them. I've heard so many ridiculous pronunciations of my name...even though all the students can say my name cuz its easy to say with the Americanized pronunciation but its always the teachers who have a "hard" time. I think you're right. They just don't care...I'm just a student and I'll be gone next year so they don't want to spend the time and energy to learn saying my name correctly.

Bravo, Shweta! You did the right thing. That guy has no business to tell you to change your name. Whether you want to change your name or not, it is your choice. Why people change their names has their own reasons for that.

Originally posted by: maha2us

Bravo, Shweta! You did the right thing. That guy has no business to tell you to change your name. Whether you want to change your name or not, it is your choice. Why people change their names has their own reasons for that.

My name is Mahadevan. People used to call me 'Mahatma', 'Mohammed' or 'Mathew'. Finally this is all I told them. Call me 'Maha' and people are comfortable that way. It is true those people found it difficult to tell my name and I could make an acceptable solution for that. That became needed because they had to interact with me a lot.

Ya shortening your name is a pretty reasonable solution but I can't shorten my name...well I could but it would not seem right lol! Well that guy told me I should change my name to Sarah...which obviously isn't gonna happen. Okay not everywhere and everyone in the US but some people here try to pressure whom they call "foreigners" even if they have been living here since they were kids...like me...basically this is how I see their attitude...if you are not like us, you're weird...or maybe all teenagers are like that...anyways and I have multicultural friends so ya...I do speak up for myself...Thanks for commenting!

Well, yes ofcourse, how can we just change our name juz coz some random group people can't pronounce it!

I have an Indian name too but thankfully everybody here pronounces it nicely! But still, had it been me in ur position, I also wouldn't have changed it!

Shweta, You need not worry on what to do. You did well speaking up for yourself. People may say you are weird because they are just mean. There are a lot of mean people in this World. Only I have to believe whatever way I am, I am not weird and I can always love, accept and value myself. When you find yourself interacting with people who care for you but struggle to pronounce your name, you will automatically find a solution. But not for the guy in the class who wants to change your name and who suggested a name to you.

I will never change even though i feel really irritating,coz my name is really common and I have so many classmates with the same name so i get irritated a bit.

It's really a good thing that you did not conform and try to,change ur name..it's a very common thing nowadays I have heard so many cases where people change their names so that their friends can pronounce it properly...in my opinion changing the name is not the best option telling ur friends that my name is spelled or pronounced like this is good I have been through this I live in an Arab country and the way they say my name is different but now I have got used to it and try and explain them the correct way of saying..