Hana+V’s+2018+OpEd+Article

 it's 

=Not Hannah (-: = = =

I like to pretend that I’m a genius, but the truth is there are many, many things that confuse me. Quantum mechanics, the Bermuda Triangle, takis, people who enjoy running the 3200, etc. -- however, the greatest mystery to me is WHY it is so difficult for people to pronounce my name.

My mom gave me my name for my birthday. It means flower in Japanese (花 ) and it’s very simple. It only has four letters and two syllables. For those still unsure, it’s pronounced “hah-nuh”. The spelling of my name is not confusing. It is pronounced the way it is spelled: Hana. Ha. Na.

Everyone still calls me Hannah though. I hated my name when I was little, which is obviously frustrating because my name is beautiful. I wanted to be called by my middle name, Rebecca, because it’s common and no one would mispronounce it. I literally wanted to change my name from Hana to BECKY. Disgusting.

I’m not muckraking my 6-year-old self, though. I’m muckraking all the people who mispronounce(d) my name and made younger Hana hate her name. This isn’t a personal attack on all my classmates and teachers who’ve all called me Hannah once. Like, I get it; my name looks similar to “Hannah” or, even more confusing, “Hanna”. And yeah, it’s exhausting correcting everyone. The first few weeks of school are the worst. The only thing I say in class at the beginning of the school year is “it’s Hana, not Hannah”.

But that’s not //the thing//.

You know the sounds that make your ears feel like they’re bleeding? Like forks scraping against a plate or nails on a chalkboard. That’s how it sounds to me when someone who I’ve already corrected multiple times on the pronunciation of my name calls me Hannah again. I mean, //holy shit //, how many times does it take? Even worse is when I correct someone and they go “Mmmmm but ‘Hannah’ is so much easier to say”. THAT sounds like a million extra sharp nails scratching against a 5 mile long chalkboard. I don’t see the need for people to get so embarrassed or defensive when they mispronounce my name. I probably sound mean when I correct people for mispronouncing my name for the 5th time in a row, but I don’t care anymore. Learn how to say “Hana”.

If people can learn crazy names like Tchaikovsky and Penelope, then Hana can’t be too difficult. It sucks growing up with a name people don’t bother to pronounce right. I don’t mean the people who have weird spellings of their names like Casseandrreah or Hayleigh. That’s your parents fault for adding three new consonants and 5 more vowels to a basic European name and making life hard for you. I mean the people who have names like mine that are tied to cultural heritage/ are not common in the Western world. It sucks growing up being ashamed of your name because people repeatedly mispronounce it, even after you teach them how to say it. It sucks when something that should be as simple as a mispronunciation starts to feel like a bashing of your heritage.

I used to feel bad for myself for not liking my name. Now I just feel bad for the dumb people who can’t get it right, or the people who choose not to get it right. Hahaha, “but Hannah is //easier //to say”.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">K, sorry Chadwick, but asshole is so much easier to say. I’d rather call you that.

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