ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I take offense to the words' White teachers who mispronounce names.' ANY person can mispronounce a name. To assume that all white people have easy names and all minorities have difficult names is incorrect. I am a white (now middle age) adult who grew up in a white middle class neighborhood and went to a primarily white school. My name was continually mispronounced. There was no one else named LESLIE. I was called Liesel a lot, I was also called Lisa and Lesy. I still have to correct people and spell the name for them. Be cautious about your language no matter who you are.

my name is an ethnic name. At age 67 I am still on a just about daily basis explaining, responding to the wrong spoken or written name, and trying to help people understand the name which is helpful to people, and always interesting to them. The story of the name is always of interest to people in our multi-cultural society.

Have I ever felt this was a micro aggression? Never. Never occurred to me to think so. More it is a chance to remember my Irish roots, and my parents desire to have me remember them.

I have worked with kids with names that sound different in their home land, than here and had parents request I use the American pronunciation, so as the kid will get used to a life time of that pronunciation.

When I have traveled, no one says my name right!

Micro aggression? Perhaps we are going too far in this, making the potential aggressors frightened, forgetting the ways in which our multi ethnic culture works. Names are an introduction to self as well as ethnicity. Just talk, learn, try! Lets be in good relation with others, not looking for the bad.

I cannot tell you how many times I've heard names mispronounced. Going to school with kids from all over the world, or carrying the names of other than English origin, many tongue twisters for English speakers, invited creative ways of saying the names. Nobody got their feelings hurt-it was a learning experience for all (and still is) that people have very different abilities in pronouncing sounds, especially when they are foreign. No one needs to be adversely affected by this or go into counseling because their name wasn't pronounced correctly. In fact, I know children and adults who will let others know a shortened version or nickname that they can go by. This is pole vaulting over a mouse turd. No need to make a child feel like a victim if their name is mispronounced. Maybe they can be taught to excuse the tongue challenged person for his or her shortcomings in reading.

I would like to point out that it is all names, not just English language learners, minorities, or people new to the country . My name is Tamarah, (I cringe now hearing you try to say it correctly) It is a family name. When I was a child I would start my school year off terrified that I would have to correct my Teacher on the pronunciation of my name. Once my name was (and it was) pronounced wrong the entire class would start singing the song from Annie "Tomorrow I love you". It was humiliating. I eventually gave up on m name and said just call me Tammy. . I hated my name and the anxiety I had when I had to introduce myself. Even after I said it people could still not grasp that there is an annunciated a in the middle. Now that I am an adult I can see the beauty and importance of the name. I would like to use my given name in my professional world, but I just can't stand the thought of having to correct someone and just giving up on Tamarah and staying simply Tammy.

This article struck a chord with me. I have a fairly common name. In english it is easy to pronounce but my husband and his family are french and the phonetic sounds for three letter combinations in my name are not pronounced the same. It makes for some very creative interpretations of my name. Within my own family it did not bother me because I feel loved and welcomed. I took language courses to improve my french and after reading this article I distinctly remember the emotions I felt when my professor changed my name to make it more french. I can honestly say I was not happy or comfortable in his class and reflecting back, without a doubt it affected my learning attitude. I put those feelings behind me and haven't revisited them for many years. If I can feel that strongly once in my life I can only begin to imagine how someone else might feel when I mispronounce their name. It reinforces the importance of creating a connection with families and children so that if I am experiencing difficulty with the challenge of language phonetics (for I do struggle with languages) the child and family can see past it to see the caring and respect. Thank you for posting this and especially so close to the beginning of the school year. It reminds me to look at hidden bias that I may not even be aware I am carrying by not stopping and thinking about the pride we carry in our names. Thank you for making that connection for me so I can grow!