What's in a name?

So I'm watching this web series titled "The Bold Type" on Netflix.. and one of the protagonists is named 'Sutton Brady'.. I love this particular character because she's kind, intelligent and funny/witty and more importantly I love her name.. 'Sutton' - It's such a unique name.. I simply love the name.. I caught myself wishing my name was Sutton.. Well, no sooner than that thought hit my mind, it immediately triggered flashbacks of several or rather all the instances of people mispronouncing my name.. 

The most dreaded question for me is "What's your name"? Because the scene plays out something like this.. 

Person: Hi, what's your name?

Me: Sharon

Person: What? Shalini?

Me (mildly annoyed): No.. It's Sharon

Person: Oh.. Sharanya?

Me thinking (Oh my God!! are u deaf???):  Noooo.. It's Sharon.. that's S-H-A-R-O-N, Sharon

Person: Oh Sharan (pronouncing it as 'Sha-run')

Me: (resigned to my fate of spending a lifetime with people mispronouncing my name) Yeah, Sharon.. Nice talking to you.. 

So, then I realized that I'm lucky my name is not 'Sutton'.. Cant imagine the horrendous pronunciations people will come up with had my name been 'Sutton'..  

It brought to mind my initial days as a fresher in my organization.. A senior colleague called me 'Sharan' (pronounced as Sha-run) and my friend was surprised that people are mispronouncing my name and she actually asked me how come I'm responding to people when they call me "Sha-run".. So I told her I'm fed up of trying to teach people to say my name correctly.. Anyway this gave her a chance to come up with one of her sleazy jokes.. Like people may be calling me Sha-run and thinking "Sha-run.. mere Sharan mein aa jao" (Like.. Sharon.. come to me!) It sounded sleazy coz she said it in a voice that was supposed to be sexy.. And she and the other friends had a great time laughing at how people were saying my name..  

So for a very brief period I was having a kind of an 'identity crisis'.. Not just because people were mispronouncing my name but there were also several instances of people mistaking me for a Malayali.. I kid you not!! So it goes like this.. A Malayali (can be a colleague/customer) who on seeing me for the first time would just start rattling off in Malayalam.. And I would give that person a blank stare and say in English, "I'm sorry.. What?".. And then this person will give me a dirty look and I assume the person thinks it's treachery on my part to refuse to converse in my Mother tongue which according to them is "Malayalam".. It's only after a while when I explicitly tell them that I don't speak Malayalam, they ask me if I'm not a Malayali.. And then I say "No".. and the disappointment on their face makes me feel uncomfortable.. I so wish I knew to speak Malayalam.. Just so that I don't disappoint so many people.. But learning new languages isn't really my forte so I continue giving people the blank stare when they break off in Malayalam with me.. 

So I think that's one of the the reasons why I have many Mallu friends.. Because when these people notice me for the first time, they think I'm a Mallu... But by the time they realise I'm not "one of them" it's too late because I've already charmed my way into their lives.. (heh heh heh) 

Anyway, this brings me back to the harsh realization that I couldn't carry off 'Sutton' as my name.. and I have resigned myself to a lifetime of people calling me 'Sharanya/Shalini/Sharan'.. Those are nice names... But I love 'Sharon'.. I wish people said my name correctly.. 

I have a lesson to learn my parents' pet.. My parents have a pet dog and they call him 'Toffee'.. I call him 'Ugly' just for fun.. and he still responds to me when I call him 'Ugly'.. and that's why I take comfort in one of Shakespeare's quote.. He said "What's in a name? That which we call a 'Rose', by any other name would smell as sweet"..

But sometimes the way people say my name, makes me want to change it to something simpler.. like 'Siri'.. 

Maybe the title for my next post should be.. "Hi I'm Siri... and I'm not a Malayali".... ;-) 

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