When Your Name Gives You Grief...-

Hello peeps..
Phyllicia. Yes, that's my given name at birth. For as long as I can remember, my name has always given me some degree of grief especially during my school years. For some reason my name always gets botched up by teachers. They would either say it wrong, spell it wrong and pause for more than 10 seconds trying to figure out how to say my name out loud.

Eventually though, the pausing part became a test for me to measure the intelligence and guts of a teacher. The faster they attempt *yeah, attempt. They don't even have to say it right* to say my name I would give them credit for having guts and if they say it ALMOST right *'cause they never do* I give them brownie points for trying. Sometimes I make it up as a game at the beginning of each school year to see which of the teachers can attempt to say my name with the least pause time. Hehe..

School co curriculum certificates are another headache altogether. Either the 'y' would become an 'i' or the 'i' and 'y' would switch places. Then the 'c' would sometimes become an 's'. Not to mention the most common mistake of all; one 'l' would be missing. The lazy ones would just spell 'Felisia'. Tsk tsk tsk.. Shame on you lazy bums.

The most atrocious misspelling of my name ever occurred during the time when I received an award from YPPS for achieving a few A's during PMR. I opened my invitation letter and it says:

Kepada:
CIK THYLLICIE PHILLIPHIA SNDRA

Yes, I still remembered it despite 10 years have passed. After all, it's not everyday your name is spelled like the species of a very deadly virus. I have been scarred for life in case you still can't tell.

I'll be honest and say that I had hated my name during my teens not only because of the experiences above but also because of other petty things such as other friends being able to find their names on commercial decorative, key chains. Their names could also be found in books of meanings of names whereas the closest one I could find to my name was Phyllis and it meant 'foliage'. "Foliage? Foliage? I'm no darn tree!" I would rail in outrage. I know, I was young but it seemed to mean a lot to me back then. *It effected my identity somehow and you know how important that is to a teen*

Now however I have made peace with my name. I would still try to find my name on key chains but I've yet to see it. It's done for the mere fun of it though. The only way I could have my name on a key chain is if I have one custom made and if that ain't uniqueness then nothing else is. Also, while mere books can't tell me the meaning of my name, Google Search link certainly can. The true meaning of Phyllicia certainly beats 'foliage' hands down. How do you like me now? Hehehe...

So yeah, I am now able to fully appreciate the 'exotic-ness' of my name. In fact, I love my name. Sometimes I still cringe and grit my teeth when people  mispronounce it *whom which are immediately labelled as 'Idiot' by yours truly* and I would always be delighted and amazed when someone rolls my name off their tongue as easy as they can say 'Amy' and 'John' *whom which I would immediately label 'intelligent and well-learned'*

Do you have a unique name (due to spelling or pronunciation) and have you ever experienced the same thing at school?

This is all for now dear readers. Hope you enjoyed this post and Happy Ash Wednesday to those celebrating. Wassalam.

Love,
Phoebe