Mexico City: My name is...

I went to Mexico City from May 28th to June 11th, 2011. Only when I got back did I notice a few things...

My name is apparently hard to pronounce. I've had to correct people all my life, with few exceptions. I've had to introduce and repeat myself several times before either giving up out of frustration and accepting the attempt.  I've had to correct whatever pronunciation came up when people try to read my name off a piece of paper (or screen). My general goal was to mash it into people's memories until they got it correct.  The only people who got the easy way out (by calling me D) were the ones who had my name down 'to a science.'

However, I never considered that the difficulty in pronunciation was beyond those born and raised with English as their first language [note: most Americans got it right eventually, due to my stubbornness and initial intolerance growing up].  Most people with first languages that aren't English seemed to have an even harder time.  I noticed a pattern that made me more tolerant of my name being mis-pronounced. In Mexico City, everyone got it wrong regardless of the corrections.  The phonetics and the spelling of my name seemed to clash irreconcilably, to the point where I had to train myself to hear their version of my name, or else I would have never responded. I thought my stubborn repetition and correction would come off as rude after a while.

Anywho, a revelation came up that has since grown on me. When I showed my i.d. card to my friend and her parents to show the spelling of my name to help along the pronunciation process, she saw my middle name.

"Cherone?"

"Yes."

"I like your middle name better."

And so it went. On and off, I trained myself to be called by a name no one (including my family) has used until now. My friend made it a point to inform her friends of my middle name after failed attempts to pronounce my first name. There seemed to be agreement that my middle name was easier to pronounce, unlike my first name. To get me more into  the idea, my friend called me "Ms. Cherone" and "Dr. Cherone." Actually, it didn't sound too bad.

I noticed something else.  My friend's (and her friends) names also weren't their first names! I took a peek at one's CC used to pay for some food and realized this, and, for some reason it came as a shock to me.  Why weren't their first names used? I'm not entirely sure, but I began to like the idea of being called by my middle name. I still favor my first name heavily, but if transcending language barriers means that Cherone trumps Deseure, then I'm more willing to make that change. For that, I dedicated my blog-site url to such, as well as to learning something.

I learned to accept the fact that, maybe my name is just too difficult to pronounce especially for those whom English is not their first language. I shouldn't be a pronunciation snob if there are alternatives (though D still won't be one of them with exceptions of my close friends using such). If I chose to stay in the U.S, I would still be naive to the idea that everyone should be able to pronounce my name correctly with no exceptions.

Friends have taught me a lot of things, and I thank them for encouraging the adoption of another name/moniker.  Cherone, or Ms. Cherone.