Additional Coverage:
- I was adopted as a child by an American family. They still can’t pronounce my name correctly. (businessinsider.com)
A local woman, adopted from Bulgaria at age 5, has spent nearly two decades trying to get her family to pronounce her name correctly. She recalls a recent family dinner where her brother, yet again, stumbled over the pronunciation. Though he expressed a desire to get it right, the incident highlighted a long-standing issue.
Adopted into an American family, her name was Americanized from the start, pronounced like a character from “Anne of Green Gables.” She accepted this throughout her childhood, until a visit with her Bulgarian godmother rekindled her preference for the original pronunciation.
As a teenager, she tried adding an accent mark, but her parents discouraged it. In college, she tried again with new friends, and gently corrected her family during visits home, but the mispronunciations continued, often with joking but ultimately frustrating variations.
Some family members simply dismissed her corrections. Now a therapist, she understands the importance of names and identity.
Growing up in a white community after 9/11, she often suppressed her Iraqi and Bulgarian heritage to fit in. Reclaiming her name is part of reclaiming her identity.
She recently added her pre-adoption surname back to her legal name. While she doesn’t resent her family’s struggles, their actions underscore how easily subtle harm can be inflicted when cultural differences are overlooked. Now, with nieces, nephews, and a toddler son, she’s determined to model self-respect and hopes her family will eventually follow suit.