What's in a Name?

Growing up, my childhood friends were George, Dave, Dennis, Rick, John, Robby, Bill. My cousins were Michael, Carol, Debbie, Grace, Susan, Billy, Pam, Wendy, Jeff. In college, it was Bobby, Steve, Nancy, Liz, Mary, Lynne, Suzanne and the slightly more exotic Gretchen and Gabriel. My memorable teachers’ first names were Bob, John, Ben. 

So yesterday, I took a peek at who liked my Facebook post, as I sometimes do. Not to boost my ego, but out of curiosity as to who’s reading it and the great pleasure of seeing their names and remembering their faces, their character, our stories together. But it was only today that it struck me how my adult friends mostly made through my international Orff teaching have very different names from the above. Accent on very different!  

Here are a few and of course, I equally love my friends with more common American names (so if any of you are reading this, don’t feel left out! Likewise, there are many more who just didn’t happen to like this post). I’ve alphabetized them and yes, they would make a great speech piece. Read them out loud. 

Agalianou, Airr, Akosua, Alfonso

Alta, Amber, Anya-on, Arghavan

Betul, Catalina, Chaya, Chika

Ekaterine, Elina, Estevao, Ezgi

Fariba, Fatosh, Fauna, Florinna

Gustavo, Huan Yuh, Idit, Joao

Juuso, Kalms, Ki, Kirrabelle

Kofi, Krongtong, Lesia, Luciana

Magda, Mandana, Maristela, Mícheâl

Mieke, Migdalia, Mireia, MyeongShin

Nanna, Napat, Natassia, Noriko

Omar, Orlena, Oshadhee

Perttu, Praew, Prosper, Ryuna

Sabra, Sanae, Sencer, Sheree

Slava, Somchai, Sunshine, Svetlana

Tadeja, Terhi, Thiago, Tian

Tik, Violant, Vita, Vuyani,

Werner, Winston, Wolfgang, Xavi 

PS Countries represented include: Iceland, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Iran, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada, Australia. U.S.. Forgive me if I left any out!