As of June 2016, there are about 7.4 billion people in the world, with approximately 319 million of those people inhabiting the United States. With so many people around us, it can be difficult to express our individuality. We can do this through a myriad of different ways; the way we dress, what sports we like, our music taste, etc. But a huge part of our individuality comes from something that most people tend to overlook: our names.
If you're anything like me, your parents bestowed upon you a name difficult to spell and pronounce. Since pre-k, I have contemplated changing it and even tried to convince some people to call me by my middle name instead (which never worked for me either because it just felt weird). Growing up with my name led me to believe that I was cursed to years of my peers just struggling day in and day out to pronounce it. But, I have come to realize that it's not all that bad.
Here are some scenarios that us strangely named people have grown to know a little too well:
1. Teachers butchering the absolute sh*t out of your name on the first day of class.
Roll call had to be the WORST thing about the first day of class. Phonetically, my name was pronounced rih-sell. Simple right? Just by looking at it, "Ricelle" didn't look to difficult to pronounce. FALSE. Ever since kindergarten, I've gotten a slew of many different combinations of just phonetic inaccuracy. The minute I saw the eyes of my teachers widen in confusion, I automatically raised my hand and said, "here," as positively as I can. Even though in my mind, I wanted to say, "Yes, hi, that is me with the strangely spelled name. I accept your apology."
2. The obscure nicknames that come along with it.
My family given nickname is pretty gender neutral, but it was also not spelled the way it normally is (and no, I'm not mentioning what it is because, and I put emphasis on this - it is FAMILY given). It is also a nickname that you wouldn't expect to come out of the way my full name is spelled.
3. Speaking of obscure nicknames, we actually love it when you find ways to make our birth names sound a little cuter.
One of my favorite musicals growing up had to be "Grease." Contrary to most fans of this late-70s classic, my favorite character had to be Betty Rizzo, or Rizzo as how most of her peers called her. I felt that I had a personal connection to her character. Once Snapchat became a thing during my junior year of high school, I adopted the character's name as my Snapchat user. Since then, many people have started calling me "Rizz" or "Rizzy," just as an easier way to say "Ricelle."
4. That sad moment when you realize you're THAT sibling.
If you've followed my previous articles, you might have noticed the two names that I dropped: Patti and Gabbi. Yes, those are the names of my two sisters. When you look at it, Patricia Lynn and Gabrielle Marie sounds just so... normal. Right smack dab in the middle was me, Ricelle Alix. You'd think that it would have been either one of them to be in the same boat as me. Nope.
5. Those attempts to make up a cool etymology for your name.
I think some of us wanted to believe that we take after mythological gods and goddesses when it comes to the origins of our names, but when we looked at it closely (like, reaaaallly closely), our dreams were crushed. I've always wanted to say that my name translated to "incredibly spectacular" in some other worldly language.
6. Going out of town and never seeing your name on those nifty key chains
This is pretty much self-explanatory. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!
7. Constantly blaming your parents for it.
Along with being the only child in my family with the strange name comes the deep, constant but subtle hatred towards my parents for choosing me to be that child. I mean, come on, even my parents' names were pretty normal.
8. How many of us do you actually know?
Try yelling our name in a stadium. I guarantee only one of us will respond back.
9. Constantly getting the insult "what kind of name is--", but never ever getting bothered by it
How many times have people try to insult you by digging at your name? From personal experience, I want to say too many times. Trust me, people. It doesn't work.
10. That moment when you promise yourself to never put your future children through the same torture you went through.
Sorry future kids, I'm going to have to take the "L" for this one. Sorry it's going to take a while to learn how to spell my name. Sorry for the impending awkward silences when your teacher needs to contact me to tell me how awesome of a kid you are because they're struggling with pronouncing my name.
Though I wouldn't just throw a name onto my children mindlessly; I'd take into consideration just how much I went through growing up and how I still want them to wear their name proudly.
11. The beautiful history behind it.
Once I was old enough to realize what my name actually meant, I started to wear it proudly. My parents wanted to preserve the legacy of my grandparents and so they skillfully combined their names to create mine. My first name takes after my two grandmothers, Rita and Celia and my second name takes after my two grandfathers, Alfredo and Calixto. To me, it became a little gift from my parents, as a way for me to remember the little "nuggets of wisdom" that each of them have left for their children and their grandchildren.
We're all different. We're all different from birth. We're all so different that we've been created with an unmistakable mark that we have imprinted in the world around us. It is important to realize that not everyone is the same, even down to the way we think.
