You know my name, not my story

Go ahead and read my name. Try and pronounce the last name in your mind (or out loud, depends on whether it's normal for you to randomly shout people's names.) Most people would pronounce it as A-ran-nee-a or just blatantly ignore the "r" and pronounce it as Au-non-na. I've met only a handful of people who have successfully pronounced it as Au-ron-no. I wouldn't even blame the people who didn't get it right. I mean, why would the spelling even be so complicated and not match the actual pronunciation at all? Yet, that is how our cruel languages work. Having an uncommon name might be nice when everyone compliments you for it, but when you sit there with the certificate you worked day and night to earn and see it says "Oronno" on it, you basically start wishing your name was John.

People with any name other than the generic Maisha or Sadman or Anika end up leading a life full of misspellings and mispronunciations. And the worst part is, you never stop caring. If the entire world is adamant in calling you something completely wrong, you become equally adamant in changing that. But sometimes, there isn't anything you can do about it. It just becomes a game of gritting your teeth at their blunt ignorance while your friends, who have finally learnt your name right after all these years, laugh at the hilarity of the situation. You don't get the joke, though. You keep correcting them.

For example, my best friend's name is Firoz Tishun. Horribly uncommon too. Whenever we join a new class, the first thing the teachers do is ask us to repeat our names a few thousand times and when they finally pronounce it themselves, they end up with something like, "Fairooz Tahsin." Or maybe even "Tushin." My friend Akhiar gets called "Akhir" or "Akhtar" on a regular basis. All we can do is laugh it off, hopelessly try and correct them and maybe mispronounce the teacher's name behind their backs as a form of pathetic revenge, like how we call Qudrat sir "Qudrati" or "Quadrat". We're very cool, I know.

People with common names that are spelled differently face similar problems as well. Maishas that spell their name as Mayeesha, or Anikas that spell their name as Aniqa, or any person who has the name Inteser/Intesar have set themselves up to a life of disappointment and unnecessary wasting of time correcting people.

Fear sets in too. Every time you apply for a new ID card, you start praying that they won't make a mistake in the spelling. Even more so because once the faulty ID card is made, you know for sure that you'd be too lazy to apply for it again. You'd live with the misspelled name but you'd complain about it every single day.

All the mistakes get to you. Last year, I unconsciously began writing my last name as "Aranny" on every single test I sat for for maybe one or two months. Maybe the misspelling is like a contagious disease that most people have and us people with uncommon names are the only ones still unaffected.

Mayabee Arannya is a confused soul still searching for a purpose. Give her advice on life at facebook.com/mayabee.arannya