Say My Name!

I am mostly tolerant of people's reactions to my name.  Oluwaseyi!! It is fun to discuss with people who are generally curious.  Those other people though. . .

I am accustomed to people reading a list of names and being completely unprepared for something with so many vowels.  When they start saying "Ummmmmmmmmmm" I will cut them some slack and tell them how to pronounce it.

Yesterday, I was talking to a few new people who were asking about my name and background.  One of them said "If you have an American mom and were born here couldn't they have just given you an American name?"   My ACTUAL reaction was "no.  that would not have been nearly as much fun".  What I was thinking was "what the fuck is wrong with you?"

Then he said it "Well, you MUST have a nickname."

Whenever anyone says this to me, and I have heard it about 984573905790834679834679 times in my life, I say that I do not have a nickname.  The inevitable conclusion is them saying they will call me O and me saying I will not answer to that.

In the case of yesterday, I think I asked how he was able to get an MD/PhD but couldn't master the 5 syllables in my first name. STOP BEING SO LAZY PEOPLE!  Something different won't hurt you.

So, just for everyone's edification here is my Top 5 list of shit I never want to hear again when people encounter my name.

1.  I say my name and they say "Gesundheit"  (That stopped being funny when I was 7)
2.  You MUST have a nickname
3.  How can that be your name when you don't have an accent?
4.  It must have taken you a really long time to learn to spell that.  (Nope.  I am not a dumbass)
5.  Do you have an american name?  (Do you have a Nigerian name?  No?  Then shut the fuck up.)