Ein. Aini. Anne. Ayain. Ai-ne.
I have had so many mis-pronounciations of my name that I have programmed myself to respond to anything that sounds remotely similar to my name. But I have to say, the worst butchering of it must have to be when a physics teacher in college called me Anya. How did you even get that from the spelling?!
I admit that it is confusingly spelt. Anything with silent letters are dangerous - and I have a silent E. The normal spelling of A-yin, would have been the simple Ain. But my parents, particular my mother, would not stand for anything common. Thus, ever since the registration guy signed my birth certificate, I have been destined for a life of correcting peoples' pronunciation.
After much fatigue with this though, my common approach is to give in and accept that my name will be fraught with plurality. In high school for instance, everyone knew me as Ai-ne or simply, Ne, because there were multiple A-yins in school. Even after many years after graduation, if they were to call me rightly by A-yin, it would be like the whole memory of my teenage self would have been wiped out or altered. So, I relent.
In university, most people called me Ein. In pure honesty, I didn't even notice the subtlety of Ein vs A-yin, so I just answered to both. But I get friends who come up to me after probably 3 years of acquaintance and intimate chats and say, "How do I really pronounce your name? Is it Ein or A-yin?"
I would reply, "I really can't tell the difference anymore. They sound the same to me."
"But what does your family call you by?"
"A-yin"
"OMG! I have been saying it wrong all this while?! Why didn't you correct me?"
"Because I didn't even notice. Lol."
Now at work, I go by Nur Zaharoff. The Ayne in the name has been totally wiped out due to convenience. Colleagues who do not know me personally call me Nur. And those who do, call me Ayne. Interestingly, many of my colleagues know how to speak arabic or at least, are familiar with the language. It doesn't click straight away that Ayne is just a roman version of the arabic letter ع which means eye. An Egyptian colleague of mine who had been confused with my name for a long time finally asked me how to rightly pronounce it.
"Its like the arabic letter ع," I say, whilst drawing the letter in mid-air with my finger.
"Ohhhh, I get it now! You mean like 'Ain," he says, with the emphasis on the A, drawing a slight "ng" sound form the back of his throat. Now that we have clarified that, every time he calls me there is a slight "ng" at the front. Again, I relent. You do you.
Despite being called Nur alot. I have not gotten used to it. This reminds me of a funny story of when I was younger. I was about 11, and I was in art class. I was the only Malay in the class and I sat on the stool at the back of the class. I was diligent in colouring my painting, so I paid attention to little else. The teacher was talking to another student and she was shouting, "No! No! No! No! No!" I didn't look up because I thought probably there is a confrontation brewing ahead and being non-confrontational, I looked down even further at my painting. But when the shouting didn't stop, I eventually looked up. And there was my teacher staring straight at me, along with the whole class.
"Why didn't you reply me when I called your name?!" she said, looking frustrated.
I looked at her confused, but before I could explain myself saying that no one calls me Nur, she continued talking. And that was that. I never returned to that class out of utter humiliation.
Moral of the story is, although I love my name and wouldn't change it now, if I were to have children in the future, I would probably spare them the heartache by gifting them simpler, shorter names.
Youre welcome.
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