Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Name Game

Hello, my name's Dionne. First thing's first- I'm neither a Dianne nor a Dionna. And most definitely not a Dionnee. After 21 years when I have been everything from a Celine Dion, a Dino, a Donnie to even a Donut, I sometimes wonder: why couldn't a kid be given a plebian name? No. The mother had to name me something which came short of sounding like a tongue twister. At age 6 the constant mispronunciations since I popped (no kidding!) became the bane of my life. I constantly had to keep correcting people that it's "Dee-Yawn" not "Dee-Oh-Nee" or "Dee-Oh-Na". Some just didn't get it. Once I had the psychology lecturer spelling my name out because she gave up on my name. How wonderful. It was only after a quick check in a baby book that I found myself to be the "divine greek goddess of love". From then on, I felt better somehow. I have come to love both my identity and myself more. I don't really bother trying to correct people anymore and have learnt to take things in good stride. In fact, I'm a tad grateful. Can you imagine being Julia Robert's son Phinnaeus instead? I mean, come on! The name when correctly said practically sounds like a certain male anatomy part. Poor poor boy.

1 comment:

Kevin said...

In Singapore, people like to call me Kelvin instead of Kevin. If they have a hard time with mine, I believe that they would have a harder time with yours. Thanks for clearing up your name Dee-Yawn. :)