Comments on: Why you Arabs ashamed of your names?

By: :)

:) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:13:06 +0000

Hi. I have a strange sounding (and spelling) name and live in a European country. I go to school and everytime when the teacher calls the names, mine gets wrongly pronounced. There have maybe been like 2 teachers ever that have pronounced it right without me telling them “it’s like this”. I’m also shy and many times i don’t correct them either so the shit goes on and on. People in the class laugh sometimes (not to hurt me specificly) and i have been teased many times for it. I don’t want to meet people because of my name and i don’t like to introduce myself either. Sometimes people ask “how is it spelled” and it drives me crazy. i don’t think you should talk about “respect” for the parents and what the name stands for. for many of us it’s hard when it gets pronounced and spelled wrong all the time, maybe you haven’t experienced that with an easy name like Mona? If i had the chance to be reborn and choose a new name myself, i would do it in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, now it’s too late and changing my name legally would make me feel very bad.
I came across this blog by an accident and just wanted to share my opinion on the subject in matter. Have a nice day.

By: Mohammed

Mohammed — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:16:26 +0000

My name is Mohammed (best name in Islam :yes: ) and I lived in Europe for a very long time, I was never ashamed of my name… there’s nothing to be ashamed of in the first place!!

Lol imagine being called Gaylord or something like that (reference (meet the fockers)).

By: Mona

Mona — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:40:54 +0000

What’s wrong with the name Heba? It’s easy to say and beautiful!

By: queenie

queenie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:38:35 +0000

I used to work with a Heba, she used to tell people to call her Eva.

By: chickpea

chickpea — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:57:50 +0000

I’m guilty of going by a shortened version of my name, and I personally do it because it’s so much easier to pronounce. My name is ÙÙˆØ²ÙŠØ© and I go by the last syllable in my everyday life. My parents call me by my first name, but almost everyone else that knows be calls me by my nickname. I don’t know if I would ever legally change my first name, but it’s definitely crossed my mind a few times.

And I’m not one of those people who is ashamed of their name, I just like the shortened version of my name a lot more.

By: Ahmed

Ahmed — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:39:49 +0000

I had to do it ONCE when I worked at the Dish Network’s Call Center in 2007 – Apparently we (the operators) had to use American names instead of calling the customer and say: Hi, this is Ahmed from Echostar bla blah… I didn’t much like being named Alec Lindgren but the name sounded famous, people used to ask if its Alec as Alec Baldwin or Alex, fun days.

However, I serious loath those who would legally change their names from Mohamed to Mike or whatever crap, I’ve always been proud of being an Arab and Muslim – I wouldn’t just change my name from Ahmed to Alec (permanently) just to avoid racism from the narrow minded who live everywhere.

True I have deep mixed roots (Turkish and Greek) – but I am still me, an Arab and proud. True, I am rebellious and I have countless remarks on the general Arab world behavior, but I am not way denying my true identity.

My 2 cents

Thanks for the great article, Mona.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:05:25 +0000

Well with some of the examples you mentioned it may be that the person feels they will be ridiculed or hated by every asshole who likes to associate every Osama as the fanatical terrorist or every Hussein with Sadam… People are shallow, it’s the same basic philosophy as racism or sexism. You see one member do it so they all must.

It may be changed so they can “fit-in” and not feel left out by everyone. Some people need to feel within a group, and if that group is shallow then they will have to change to that as well…

Or it could be a change to represent a new beginning or something, the reasons could be anything.

Even heard of one guy legally changing his name his website address! lol Some people are just silly.

By: Edmund

Edmund — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:31:00 +0000

Can I change my name to be more arab? Im sick of this “are you greek? Italian?” crap.

By: Mona

Mona — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:59:58 +0000

I have actually met guys who legally changed their names from Mohammad to Mike in all their legal documents.

By: Moe Sam

Moe Sam — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:57:44 +0000

The only one that I can remember now is Youssef to Joseph…
But it snot just Arabs, I have an Indian friend who’s called Prateik, he changed his name to Patrick.

But all of those are just nicknames, I didn’t come across someone who has changed their name legally.