Be Proud of Your Arabic Name, don’t let people butcher it

Be Proud of Your Arabic Name, don’t let people butcher it.

Arabic names are beautiful and unique in the way they’re pronounced, written, and the meaning behind them.

Most Arabic names are uncommon outside of that Arab world making the pronunciation difficult. Some try their hardest to pronounce your name, some ask for the correct pronunciation, while others avoid saying it all together. No matter what you do, someone will end up butchering your name.

Butchering a name takes it from being an ear pleasing sound to making it hard to listen to. Trust me, I’ve had my Arabic name butchered countless times. 

As soon as you hear someone mispronouncing your name, make sure you interrupt them to pronounce your name correctly. Most people don’t mean any harm, chances are that they will get it right the second time after you correct them.

Some may avoid saying referring to you by name in a face to face conversation simply because they are having a hard time pronouncing it, which is understandable. What I cannot understand is how can a person avoid typing your name when communicating privately via phone texting, email, or using any of the social platforms.

Over the past month I’ve been doing a business transaction with a company. The president of the organization was very nice and personable. He addressed me by my first name in all communications. On the other hand, his assistant, which also seemed polite, never addressed me by my first name. She proceeded to avoid using my name in all interactions. 

One can argue that she may not have been aware of my name. Yet she was asking me to fill out paperwork with my name clearly printed on the documents. Additionally, if she didn’t remember my name, all she had to do is look at my email signature, copy and paste my name into the email reply,Voila. Instead, she was simply addressing me with “Hi,” instead of “Hi Name,”.

Honestly, that bothered me. 

Who doesn’t like hearing their name called out. We often enjoy talking to people that make it a point to say our name every few sentences when talking to us.

Dale Carnegie famously mentions in his famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People  to “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language”. You can win people over by saying their name. Our names are part of our identity. As a proud American, I  am still proud of my origins, my culture, and the country I was born in.

We should all be proud of our names. Our parents took the time and effort of naming us. Avoid using nicknames to simplify your name for others. A unique name gets imprinted in the mind of people and the memory of you may last forever. Use that to your advantage. Stand by your name and make it a point for people to pronounce and spell it correctly.

Have you had anyone butcher or avoid saying your name all together? Share your experience with us in the comment section below.