Do Not Allow Anyone to Butcher Your Name

This is for anyone with a remotely difficult name. For anyone that will have people in the Western world appalled at the number of syllables you have just managed to pronounce. For anyone who is always being asked if they have a nickname. For anyone who always ends up allowing people to call them anything because they are tired of correcting it––don’t allow anyone to butcher your name.

Your name, my name, our names have been personally chosen and assigned to us by our loved ones. They are the first gifts and the first symbols of adornment for us. It represents the fact that we were thought of before we even took our first breath. 

Not only is it a gift, but it is also a story. Our names have stories from our present, all the way to our past ancestors who once owned it. Once your name is mispronounced, the story of your ancestors and the story of you are being diminished. When a mere stranger has the sound of you and your predecessors in their mouths, they must say it right.

My name has a story. Ba means “mother”, Diallo means “the last name”. My name was given to respect my mother’s last name. I will not allow anyone to butcher the name of my mother, the woman who is most important to me.

My name follows a storyline that comes from the sounds of sunlight shining on a woman’s dark brown skin. That light bounces off her brown skin and reflects into her eyes that are as dark as midnight, Malian sky. Her eyes that looked into those of baby girl whose name was Badiallo. 

If they say it wrong, correct them. If they say it wrong, correct them. And if they say it wrong, correct them. Do not succumb to the ease of letting them create a new name for you. Do not succumb to the easiness- your name is not easy, and that is okay.

It is not disrespectful to tell someone that they are not pronouncing your name correctly. You do not have to feel as if you are being rude or that you are confronting them. However, it is important to acknowledge that not everyone will know how to say your name correctly the first time. A hostile environment does not have to be created where you are confronting them––it is simply a comfortable environment for teaching and learning.

It’s an uncomfortable feeling when someone who attempts to read my name does not attempt to pronounce it correctly. It’s uncomfortable to me when they do not attempt to learn. It’s uncomfortable to me when someone disregards the beauty that lies within my name––asking for a shortened, cheap, and quick version of it. 

While all of this is uncomfortable for me, I will make it comfortable for you. I will pronounce every syllable with you. I will smile with you when you finally say it correctly. I will smile and answer you when you ask me what my name means. I will blush when you tell me it is a beautiful name. I will get a warm feeling when I inwardly thank my parents for naming me such a name. I will never regret not allowing you to butcher my name.

My name is the shortest song that has ever been sung. My name is the shortest poem that has ever been written. My name deserves to be heard and pronounced correctly and so does yours.