Pronouncing Names...Kind of a Big Deal

1. What do you Think??  REFLECT: Do you recall a student who had a “nickname” given because others’ couldn’t pronounce it?  What was the effect?  What are your thoughts about the Hollywood story provided?

I had a family friend growing up whose name was Olutope Ayorinde. His family was from Nigeria, and his name meant "A gift from God" "Happiness comes home." Teachers would often try to shorten his name to "Olu" and didn't understand why that upset him. Olu means God, and he didn't like being called that because as a Christian he found it offensive. Growing up, he would allow people to mispronounce his name because he didn't want to seem disrespectful, but I think now he's confident enough to put the onus to pronounce his name correctly on others. 

The Hollywood story isn't surprising. There are so many stereotypes about Black Americans naming their children things that aren't words or don't make sense. These stereotypes rely on a sense of ignorance or a general lack of education, and people don't think about the fact that naming hasn't always been afforded to Black Americans because of our nation's history with slavery. Particularly in the 70s, Black Americans began trying to find names that connected to their West African ancestry, changing the spelling and pronunciation to better fit in with English. Regardless of whether or not people are trying to connect names to heritage or just think something sounds nice, everyone deserves the respect of correct pronunciation.

2. Now What??  OPPORTUNITY TO GROW: What steps can you take in your class or school that will show respect and honor toward one or more of your students?

I can encourage students to learn one another's names and correct pronunciations so we can have a community where people respectfully correct one another and hold each other accountable.