Americans pronounce Indian names better than Indians do. Or at least they do it more accurately. Yes, it's true! I am not kidding!
The most ludicrous habit of many government officials in India is look at the first alphabet of your name, and then at the last, and fill up the rest themselves. Some of them even decide to correct the way it is spelled and then put in on record.
I have ended up being named (on official records) as Kokanad (most common error), Kokanand, Kokenad, Kokonath, Kokanath. Without the blink of one or more eyes.
On one hilarious occasion, my brother Sayontan was called Shaitan.
Prayatn became Prashant. Anushaily became Anshuly (Anshulee).
Correcting the mistake on an official record in India would be a big headache, but if I write about that it should be classified under the label *Sigh* in my blog. So I am not going into that now.
Americans do have a tough time understanding the complicated concoction of syllables in Indian names, but atleast end up reading it thoroughly and even pronouncing it right! And the icing of the cake lies in the fact that each and everyone asks if they pronounced it right. Your face invariably breaks into a smile. A lab mate once approached me with the name "Ramachandran" and asked if "Remakandran" (accented) is the right way to pronounce it, because she didn't want to embarrass herself.
My friends and I had been witness to this incident...
A good friend of ours, ABCXYZ Singh, has had a crisis since she landed in the US, because she decided to dump her last name. Now here's the catch - in the US, it's extremely difficult to survive without a last name because every official record is on the basis of a last name. So they found a workaround and made her first name ABCXYZ as her last name and attributed "Unknown" as her first name. So her name, officially is, Unknown ABCXYZ. While we were getting issued our State ID cards, our first names were being called out. When it was her turn, there was a voice from a sweet old lady -
"Un-known"?
While we all giggled away, our friend walks up to the counter. The old lady is visibly embarrassed because she is sure that is not the right way to pronounce "Unknown".
"Oh honey, did I get your name right?"
Just a note: For many who ask me this question, the meaning of Kokonad is "red lotus" in Sanskrit.
The most ludicrous habit of many government officials in India is look at the first alphabet of your name, and then at the last, and fill up the rest themselves. Some of them even decide to correct the way it is spelled and then put in on record.
I have ended up being named (on official records) as Kokanad (most common error), Kokanand, Kokenad, Kokonath, Kokanath. Without the blink of one or more eyes.
On one hilarious occasion, my brother Sayontan was called Shaitan.
Prayatn became Prashant. Anushaily became Anshuly (Anshulee).
Correcting the mistake on an official record in India would be a big headache, but if I write about that it should be classified under the label *Sigh* in my blog. So I am not going into that now.
Americans do have a tough time understanding the complicated concoction of syllables in Indian names, but atleast end up reading it thoroughly and even pronouncing it right! And the icing of the cake lies in the fact that each and everyone asks if they pronounced it right. Your face invariably breaks into a smile. A lab mate once approached me with the name "Ramachandran" and asked if "Remakandran" (accented) is the right way to pronounce it, because she didn't want to embarrass herself.
My friends and I had been witness to this incident...
A good friend of ours, ABCXYZ Singh, has had a crisis since she landed in the US, because she decided to dump her last name. Now here's the catch - in the US, it's extremely difficult to survive without a last name because every official record is on the basis of a last name. So they found a workaround and made her first name ABCXYZ as her last name and attributed "Unknown" as her first name. So her name, officially is, Unknown ABCXYZ. While we were getting issued our State ID cards, our first names were being called out. When it was her turn, there was a voice from a sweet old lady -
"Un-known"?
While we all giggled away, our friend walks up to the counter. The old lady is visibly embarrassed because she is sure that is not the right way to pronounce "Unknown".
"Oh honey, did I get your name right?"
Just a note: For many who ask me this question, the meaning of Kokonad is "red lotus" in Sanskrit.
12 comments:
I totally agree with you on this one! In India my name was Seshree(kinda like Pastry) when it shud be Shreyasee(Sraoshi)...All my friends in US have mastered the actual pronunciation so that they dont offend us. But then again, they have also cut my name into Shreya! Aa the perks of bong names also :D
(I think this is where we need to transfer this conversation to a private channel :)
Much as I want to, how exactlly do we do thattttt???? :):):)
You wont believe it ..my name is an English word..still ppl make such mistakes..they pronounce my name as Dimpaal to Dimpleee to Dipaaliii...and half the times due to these mistakes i dont cum to know sumbody is calling out my name
@Shreyasee - You know, there's a whole lot we Indians can learn from the Americans. Just take the best of the two worlds... and we have ourselves a nice place to live in! :D What's your take on this?
@Deepika - You could get in touch with me here - sinha[at]engr.psu.edu :)
@Dimple - :) You know, I have this habit of checking my email every morning before I get out of bed. This morning, "Dimpaal" got me laughing so hard, it was a great start to the day! Ah but I do pity you due to the Dipaali thing... Ow!
thats surprising... i always thought whites cannot pronounce indian words
good to know i can now get in touch with you!! thank you!!
Hi
I liked your post about Indian names being pronounced correctly by the Americans.
Well I'm new to your blog. I'll be coming to Penn State this fall for my MS in Aero.
I would like to ask how is your name pronounced coz I haven't come across it ever..
@Ankur - Like I said, incredible but true! Whatever happened to "Pegasus" btw?
@Vamsi - Don't worry about it. I have simpler nicknames :) And good luck for the preparations for your coming to the US!
Lol dude..nice one.........
"Kokonad"......the name always makes me imagine a mallu trying to say "coconut"
Most definitely! But then who gets to decide what's best of the two worlds? Sorry I replied so late by the way! Forgot to check a reply from you "P lol!
@whodunit: Thanks dude! :) Yeah, I have heard that one before - in fact many pass me off as a mallu because they "decide" that my name is Kokonadh. *Sigh*.
@shreybomb: That's an individual thing, of course. :)
ya rt kokonath !!
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