When I walk into Starbucks today, I really don’t have any decisions to make. My go-to pick-me-up is a grandé Pike’s Place with room for cream, and when I’m asked for my name, without hesitation, I spell out “Negina.”
There was a time when a trip to Starbucks raised my anxiety levels to the point where decaf was all I could handle. I hated getting a paper cup with “Nigini,” “Regina,” “Nikina” or any other variation written on it. I hated hearing my name, which translates to a precious jewel, be butchered to the point of female genitalia.
That’s when I became Nicki one day, Nellie the next and finally, Natasha.
It wasn’t just Starbucks where I’d muddle my identity just to make things easier. At the bowling alley, on the Internet and even abroad, “Negina” was rarely the name I would tell people. I wasn’t ashamed of my traditional Persian name – it was just the opposite. I became possessive over it and didn’t find everyday situations worthy enough for me to reveal my sacred name to others.
Now that I’ve gotten over that, I’m comfortable enough to correct people if they say my name wrong. I don’t mind taking the time to explain my name’s cultural background, and I don’t feel the need to be anyone but “Negina.”
Other people who live in the United States with non-traditional American names go through the same cognitive conflict as I did a few years ago. One community of individuals on campus who often need to make this decision of whether or not to use their real names or adopt a new one while in the States are international students.
For UO senior Jenny Zhang, Americanizing her name meant more to her than just making life easier on non-native Chinese speakers.
“My Chinese name is Ren and it actually ‘means to be tough,’ so a lot of people think it’s a boy’s name,” Zhang said. “I liked ‘Jenny’ so much because when I spell it in Chinese, the characters are so much more girly than ‘Ren’ and I think it fits me more as a female. That’s always something I’ve wanted in my name, more femininity.”
Ever since her middle school English class in Tian Jin, China, the accounting student felt she identified so strongly with the name “Jenny” that she eventually took it on full-time.
“The first time I used ‘Jenny’ outside of school was after I graduated from college and I was at a bar,” Zhang said. “I met this guy from France and he asked me for my name. I thought, maybe I shouldn’t give him my real name because it’s so boyish, so I just blurted, ‘Jenny!’ We ended up dating for three years after that and he continued to use ‘Jenny,’ like everyone else, even though I told him my real name.”
Unlike Zhang, other students with non-English names don’t feel the need to take on a more American name. UO architecture senior Abdulhadi Almumen has gone by a shortened version of his name, Hadi, for the entire duration of his time in the States.
“I think Hadi is pretty easy to pronounce since it doesn’t have any of the difficult Arabic letters like other names do, and because I was named after my grandpa, I’m really proud of it,” Almumen said.
Changing a name to be a more Westernized title often happens because of the ease-factor that comes with it. For Middle Easterners especially in the world today, an English name could mean more comfort in places where racial biases are apparent.
Fortunately for Almumen, throughout his time in Eugene thus far, he has yet to feel pressure from society to give up his Arabic name for reasons of intolerance.
“When it comes to racial profiling and Arab names, everyone in the U.S. has been really nice to me,” Almumen said. “I don’t feel like people treat me with any stereotypes for being Arab or for having a traditional name. It’s more like they see me and treat me the way I do them, which I totally respect.”
Zhang’s switch to an American name carried importance to her because of its significance to her identity as a woman. For Almumen, his name also feeds into his identity, but in the sense of it being both a familial tie and a symbol of his Arabic heritage.
The Dammam, Saudi Arabia native has made it known that he will definitely name his children with traditional names, similar to his own, in the future.