I love names with accents. They make me happy to know that they are not assimilating to whiteness. I shared this poem with my younger cousin, because I needed her to know that she had to say her own name right, and not give up to assimilation.
What’s your name?
“Ariana”
Ar-iana?
“No, Ariana.”
Arriana?
“Closer, Ariana”
Can I call you Ar-iana?
Not sorry, I don’t let people butcher my name anymore
And i won’t apologize for that
I will not give you any other way to pronounce my name because
There is no other way to pronounce it
Ah – like the start of a song
Rrrrr – rolling because my tongue has talent
Ah – like a yell that my lungs can fill
Na – like the end of a song with no lyrics
My name is a song that i do not need you to sing off tune
I am not asking for perfect pronunciation
Because your mouth might not move like mine
But i demand that you try
I demand that you realise that not all names
Most names
Are made for your Anglo-AMerican mouth
There is no name that fits your mouth but your your own
So i ask you to respect mine
Its intricacies
And simplicities
I demand you say my name
Correctly
Because I cannot have my little cousin mispronouncing her own name
For anglo-american mouths
Mamas, say your name correctly!
Se pronuncia “Katarina”
I had to practice your name growing up because it was important
That your whole name was correct out of respect for you
“Kat-er-e-na”
You are mispronouncing your own name For someone
because you’re tired of them mispronouncing it anyway
But you haven’t given them the chance to try
Do not call me Ar-iana
Arr-i-anna
Do not make me relive white elementary school teachers
On the first day of class
And don’t even get me started on
my 16 letter last name
16 letters that are too long for anything
In this american education system
My own identity of a name is not standard
My name is quite literally chopped off at the end
In its standardization
its colonization
I spell my name for the starbucks barista
Because i don’t need both us
Embarrassing ourselves when they ask for my name
And then they have no excuse
I am monotone in spelling my last name
Because I am so used to people not knowing how to ask for it
I am not traditional in either my country of birth
Or my country of heritage
I am not traditional because ironically
My parents were trying emulate the system in our country of heritage
Where two last names is expected
Thus i am not traditional in my country of birth because I try to be
Proud of my country of heritage
Do not let others mispronounce your name for you
Teach them to attempt
Be proud of your own intricacies
Your own simplicities
The heritage that your parents are trying to pass down to you
Because no one should be ashamed of the word that is used
To call you out
Of the word that you most identify with
Because it
Is
Yours
So when i ask you
“How does your mother say it?”
I am trying to say “pronounce it correctly please
Because i am trying to respect you”
Dame tu nombre y te puedo pronunciar un mundo de belleza
Give me your name and i can pronounce you a world of beauty
Colochos de Flores 