Angieneering

Thank goodness I named the my two girls, currently code named, M1 and M2, with sensible sounding names that are easy to pronounce. Yet, we have people pronouncing them wrongly, or worst, spelling wrongly! Horrors.

During my early working years, I encountered many creative minds and with creative names, it was such an eye opener. The one that stands out most after all these years was from my working at a local publishing house. An enthusiastic ad salesman came a calling and introduced himself as Calvin but spelt, ‘Qalvin’, proudly showing me his business card!

Unimpressed, I queried him on this choice of spelling for the name and then, pointed out to him that a ‘u’ technically should follow after the ‘Q’ – typical of the letter ‘Q’.

I then went on teasing him, purposely emphasizing “QUAIL-vin” prominently, and this embarrassed the heck out of him. I guess he wasn’t impressed too for he never dropped by after that incident.

Honestly, I have no objections to one having a creative name, I am just of the opinion that it must be spelt correctly. Remember my ‘English teacher’ calling my mother intended me for? And it would be a bonus if the chosen name goes well with the person’s physical appearance.

Call me old school or whatever but wouldn’t it be more significant if one looks like their name? I often asked my girls if I had switched their names, how would it be like? They’d squint their eyes for a minute before bursting into contagious laughter! Obviously, they cannot imagine one being the other. See my point of one looking like their name?

I’ve come across a sweet lady aptly named Apple (coincidently in New York City), a bridegroom named Cyclops, perfectly healthy and with two eyes unlike what the name conjures up in the mind (only in Hong Kong you get something like this!) and of course, the timid bird-like Qalvin (in Kuala Lumpur)!

Last week, I was down in Singapore attending an exhibition and met up with a ‘Seaman’ and a ‘Kinus’, from Singapore and Hong Kong respectively. I had to refrain from laughing in front of them as I found their choice of name so totally wrong with their physical appearance and country of origin.

Walking away, I commented to the hubby, “I met a Seaman.”

“Semen?” He asked incredulously.

“Oh stop it! It’s ‘s-e-A-m-A-n’. Got a couple of ‘A’s in between, ok?” I pointed out and in a way, was relieved Seaman did not look like a dick head.

“Aiyoh…. Why choose such a name?” the hubby could not fathom.

Makes me wonder too. Whatever happened to good old safe choices to avoid the embarrassment of correcting someone spelling your name wrongly?

Tags: Creative minds, Hong Kong, Names, New York City, Singapore