As someone with a pretty weird name, I get it. It's not the easiest to say. But that does not mean that it is alright to call me whatever you please, just because you can't or won't try to pronounce it correctly.

All throughout my middle school and high school experience I had the same issues. On the first day of class, every single one of my teachers would mispronounce my name. Every time that they got to my name in the alphabet, I knew what was coming. Some weird pronunciation of my name that wasn't anywhere close to what my name actually is. You know, the first day I won't take offense to it. After the first day, if you continue to mispronounce my name it IS NOT cute or funny, it's rude.

Every time that a sub showed up, it was a nightmare. I knew when they had gotten to my name on the list. They stopped, looked at it, and then pronounced my name in some weird way. Sometimes, I would just say "here" before they could butcher my name. Of course they always apologized after they did, but to be honest it just went in one ear and out the other. It was a blank apology with no true remorse.

I always accepted it as it was. Until I had gotten in trouble with a sub in high school and she asked me for my name. I gave it to her and her response was, "Did you just make that up? What kind of name is that?". She asked the class, "is that really her name?". I don't think I've ever been so offended in my life. I felt embarrassed in a way. I was hurt that she would make fun of my name. As a grown adult, I expected her to show some sort of professionalism and that did not happen. But I moved on. Until it happened again with a different sub.

I thought, "I'll take the high road and not fight this". Not everything has to be a fight, sometimes you just have to accept it and move on because they have the power and you don't want to be considered the "crazy Puerto Rican girl". Taking the high road can only work for so long. I thought that once I was done with high school it would all end.

I was dead wrong. Here I am, on a diverse-ish college campus and still deal with the mispronunciation of my name. I don't think that I would take such offense to it if they just asked first. Just ask me. That's all I want. Please don't treat my name as inferior to any of yours just because you can't say it. Learn how to pronounce it. Become aware of how it affects others when you make this "simple" mistake.

A name is someone's identity. Don't think of it as any less. It is hurtful to make fun of it. Realize how your decisions are impacting someone else.