What's in a Name?

Elle, Nell, Dan, and Daeni are just a few of the many nicknames that have been given to me by people who feel that my lengthy name needs some editing. I suppose i would agree that my name is relatively long and having something shorter for daily use would be more functional….especially in sms-es.

When i was born, my parents were debating on whether to name me Daenielle or Dawn, and well, you know what the conclusion was. Personally, i’m happy with their choice. Dawn is beautiful when written-i really do like it a lot; but when put in oral form, it can end up sounding a lot like Don. But then again, Daenielle can end up sounding like Daniel if not handled with care, so i suppose the real reason why i prefer Daenielle, is simply because it is my very own.

My parents have this thing where they wanted each of their children’s names to be unique; hence we have names that are spelled differently, although the pronunciation is basically the same, whichever way it is spelled . Thus, instead of Danielle, i am Daenielle…..with an extra ‘e’. There is a low part to having an extra ‘e’ in my name, and besides the fact that most people spell it wrong, Word underlines it in RED! Now i know what my friends with Chinese names feel like…hehe.

Living in Malaysia has been strenuous on my name as it is commonly misspelled and well, i don’t even want to touch on how it is often pronounced…or mispronounced for that matter. Well, it’s not that bad...i'm exaggerating a bit. It does get frustrating at times, but i think over time, it has become a more hardy name-if that’s possible for names, and i have become more tolerant. Either way, i have gotten used to it and it doesn’t annoy me so much any more.

Back in school, i had a teacher who would avoid calling on me in class, simply because she had no idea how to pronounce my name. I find that rather hilarious, but i can’t say that it didn’t work to my benefit. So i suppose having a difficult name to pronounce is not that bad after all. But then again, there are those times when someone was calling me and trying to get my attention, but i had no idea at all that they were addressing me, because what they were saying did not remotely sound like my name.

Looking deeper into my name, i can tell you that it is actually a French name and it means ‘God is Judge’. To those who are interested in educating themselves on how to pronounce my name properly, well i suggest you go watch Ever After, starring Drew Barrymore…and well, you kill two birds with one stone because that is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Well, i suppose it is rather unusual to dedicate a whole blog to one's name...but then again, it's ME, and this is an issue that i actually have to deal with, believe it or not. I think that i have become more sensitive to the spelling of people's names in general because of this, and i most definately understand why it's frustrating to recieve a certificate with your misspelled name on it. Small things can make a big difference.

To simplify your life, just remember that there is an 'e' in between every two letter of my name...that might help. Oh, and remember that each letter plays a vital role, so you don't want to accidently miss any. "What's in a Name?" Well, in a name, you have a whole bunch of letters, each of which plays a significant part and it's existance or lack of existance should be considered carefully as it really does make a difference.