Sometimes I feel like Rumpelstiltskin — you know, that dwarf in the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale who promised to help a queen spin gold out of straw if she could guess his name correctly?
Unlike the aforementioned queen and her servant who overheard the dwarf’s name before the final guess, not many people have even heard or pronounced my name “Isaiah” once in their lifetime.
Until they meet me, either in person or via email or other channels of communication.
Since I was 18, my baptism name has given more than a good number of people occasion to mistake me for a girl, a good laugh, or simply mangle it into something unpronounceable and might even be rude in another language.
Let me give you some examples.
On more than one occasion, I’ve had return emails when applying for jobs where people address me as “Ms Isaiah”, thus giving me a nice gender re-assignment surgery without knowing it. And when I turn up for the interview, they would inevitably be looking out for a lady and not a man.
Thereafter the conversation will go something like this.
Receptionist: “Oh I am so sorry, I was expecting a lady.”
Me: “It is alright. Many people do get it wrong.”
Receptionist: “Very unique name your name, I-shah. Malay?”
Me: “No, it’s Hebrew in origin. And it’s pronounced Isaiah.”
Receptionist: “Hebrew? Wah, you are a Jew!? I’ve never met a Jew before!”
Right, I could be a Chinese Jew then.
Then there are those who love giving my name a local spin (besides the I-shah bits) by pronouncing it “I-say-ah”. Inevitably, they’d start any conversation with me going, “I say ah, Isaiah…”.
It was amusing the first couple of times, now it’s just plain annoying.
And finally we have the name-mangling types. Some honestly just don’t know how to pronounce my name, so I don’t really blame them. However, I’ve had church folks mangle my name before too.
Years ago, I had to attend a Roman Catholic marriage preparation course with my wife. No doubt I was unwilling but I finally obliged out of respect for her family.
On the last day when certificates of participation were being handed out couple by couple, we almost missed ours. If it wasn’t for the fact that we caught my wife’s name on the third or fourth listen, those poor people would have thought they had some phantom couple on their hands.
Yes, those church helpers mispronounced my name. Completely. Utterly. Mispronounced.
Now, I have no beef against people who have never come across my name before mispronounce it, but church helpers?!
I wonder what they read when they reach the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.
Anyhow, nowadays I just help everyone along to (1) avoid having the same conversation along the same lines as the one above with the receptionist, and (2) avoid cringing at hearing my name mispronounced into something else totally.
If I were to meet you for the first time, I’ll introduce myself thus:
“Hi, my name is Isaiah, but you can call me ‘Ike’. That’s what most of my friends call me.”
I just hope nobody has an issue pronouncing a three-letter single syllable word.
Photo Credit: cool_colonia4711.
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19 Responses
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Ekee? (Ike)
hahahahaha
Just want you to know that I know how to pronounce your name
hiya Health Nut,
Welcome to my blog and thank you for the comment.
Thanks for telling me that you know how to pronounce my name. I do feel a little less dwarven now, lol!
You’ve got a great blog too, and I just finished reading the story about Team Hoyt. Very inspirational, thank you for sharing it.
Isaiah,
This is a sadly humorous tale of how much “Christians” READ their Bibles. As I was reading I was thinking the same thing:Now, I have no beef against people who have never come across my name before mispronounce it, but church helpers?!
On a lighter side, I am wondering if I am pronouncing Sicarii properly. Si Car EE? And know this, if that is the wrong pronounciation, it is only from ignorance! LOL
Blessings to you and yours
Your Sister
Well, despite the fact that all the famous Caseys are male (Casey at the Bat, Casey Jones, etc.) people still assume by my name that I am female. I went to a training workshop at my previous job, and they assigned me to the girl’s dormitory. When I went to get my key, they said, “Oh, there’s been some sort of mix up…” I said, “Hey, I’ll take that room. No worries!” They insisted on putting me in the male dormitory, though…
Wow I never met a Jew before… haha! What on earth are going in the mind of these people? Some exhibit in the zoo? I guess it’s fun once in a while to have ppl guessing.
Looks like you have a pretty cool theme now. Very pleasant on the eyes.
hi there sister,
Yes, I actually meant it as a humorous look at how some Christians don’t know how to pronounce my name even though it is in the Old Testament! When I think about it, it’s sad, because they come from the church that once upon a time tortured and burned thousands upon thousands at the stake just for a copy of the Bible!
Haha, no worries. Sicarii is pronounced “sih-KAHR-ee-i”. They were Jewish assassins. I don’t advocate violence in any form. I chose this nickname to be the assassin of falsehoods in the name of the Lord.
I am very sure you wouldn’t have minded one bit being put in the women’s dorm, Casey, lol!
I actually have a Jewish friend, and another Jewish ex-colleague whom I still keep in touch with.
Thanks, Ed. I think I’ll stick with this theme. I actually liked it for a long time but it wasn’t widgetized. And my attempts at enabling widgets on it didn’t see me go far coz I totally messed it up.
Since then they have released this widgetized version and I’m happy you like it too.
Shalom,
I can imagine your frustration, Isaiah. Your name is actually one of my favorite names for a boy. If I ever have another son, I want to name him Isaiah. One of my son’s names is Isaac (also biblical) and you wouldn’t believe how many English speaking, reading and spelling Christians cannot spell his name. Even family members! Everyone wants to spell his name Issac instead of Isaac. LOL
Now, this just may be my American monolingual ignorance, but I wouldn’t be too surprised that someone in Singapore didn’t know how to properly pronounce Isaiah. I don’t know where the current spelling came from, but I do know that English can sometimes be a tricky language. In Hebrew your name is actually “Yeshayah”, which to me, looks easier to sound out than Isaiah (especially for someone whose native tongue isn’t English). Point being that even reading it in the Bible, if you’ve never heard it pronounced correctly, it can be a challenge to do so without having someone sound it out for you (as you so graciously do for folk). It’s a pretty common name in America, but doesn’t sound to be so in Singapore so frustrating as it may be, I can sorta understand.
Think of it this way, by introducing people to your name, you’re also teaching them something new…broadening their horizons a bit…and it gives you an opportunity to tell of Messiah’s most oft quoted true prophet. That’s a GREAT opportunity!
Shabbat Shalom!
Shalom, Free
Thank you for the kind words. You know, it’s funny you mentioned that your son’s name is Isaac. Because people also call me that on occasion, as they think it another iteration of the name.
No, its not your American monolingual ignorance, what you said is very true. I can’t fault them for not knowing how to pronounce it, since it is indeed a very difficult name to pronounce when Anglicized. The Hebrew spelling does help a lot. Maybe I should spell it that way, haha!
The other option I once considered taking as my middle name was “Nathan”, so I’d be called Isaiah Nathan, but being non-Roman Catholic, I didn’t think a middle name would be that appropriate.
And I have actually come across those situations that you described. The upside to my name is that it is an ice-breaker when people start asking how to properly pronounce it and its origin. And yes, there were definitely a few that asked more about the Bible and Christianity, so that’s a BIG upside! Thank you for reminding me.
I hope you had a good rest on Shabbat.
God bless!
Hi Isaiah, I wonder if you noticed that i shared the pronunciation of my name when you wrote your post about our real names? That is because I too, have people that mispronounce my name. Even when they see it written for them, they somehow add an “R” and I become Sharlene. I really don’t like that name.
I also took a management training class once, where we were learning how to remember people’s names. We were told to give ourselves a mental picture of something that reminded us of the person’s name, and then associate it with them. So this is what I tell people: Picture the leaning tower of Pisa. Now rename it Shea stadium. Then you have Shea- Lean I like changing the spealling of Shea to Shay because that works better in print. 
(This example works well here, but I’m not sure it would work so well in another country.) 
I like this theme too, Isaiah. It was a little bit of a shock when I first saw it. I was expecting the old one, but no matter. It is nice. Blessings and Shalom to you. (I just have to do one more comment and I’m in the lead again.)
I bet you have that on your blog just for that pupose, huh? To get competitive people like me to try to make sure they stay in the top? I know I’m silly. That’s just part of who I am. 
I don’t REALLY have to call you Ike, do I? I too, know how to pronounce your real name. It is so much nicer than Ike. But if I must, I will.
(No this didn’t count as my one more comment, but I’ll take it.) 
haha, Shalene, I actually am one of those people who mis-pronounced your name as SHAR-lene, instead of SHAY-lene.
I am just curious, is that the normal pronunciation for your name? If so, I probably might have pronounced a few others wrongly, especially those with the CHAR or SHA in front, e.g. Charlene.
LOL, no, please don’t call me “Ike” if you know how to pronounce my name. My friends don’t use “Ike” that often either, anyhow, but I say it to put people at ease if they find that they cannot pronounce my name as it is.
Thank you for the comment on the theme, and I am glad you like it too!
p.s. honestly I didn’t know there were competitive people like you when I put up that list, lol! It is more for visitors to my blog and myself to see who have been commenting the most, lol! But I like that you have this competitive streak, it sure makes for good conversation!
Actually, no. You probably would be correct in most people’s names when your pronounce it that way. My mom was so drugged up when they asked her for the spelling of my name that she couldn’t remember that she wanted to spell it Shayleene. So the “y” got lost, as did one of the “e”s. I have met a few people with the same spelling of my name and they pronounce it Shuh- lean. I may be partial, but I like mine better.
My name if very rare, so it’s not often I come upon it, but every now and again it happens. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I even used my full first name. I used to tell everyone my name was Shay. 
Bobby didn’t like it though, he said I had a beautiful name, and I should use it. So now I do. Now only my ex calls me Shay. 
So I don’t give it to friends. (In other words, no- don’t call me that.) 
These are my children’s names, and you’ll see how much I like original names (even though every last one of them was named after someone else- see if you can guess who for the last two.) Mercedes, Michael (ok, not so original, but that one doesn’t count.) Aniston, and Syanne Jolie.
OK, I shall never call you “Shay” then. It’ll always be by your full first name Shaylene.
It’s a good thing you told me, as I, like others, have a tendency to shorten people’s names to single-syllable words like Peter to Pete, Joshua to Josh, etc.
Lemme see — Mercedes is after the car, I think. Michael is after the angel? Aniston — definitely after Jennifer Aniston, lol! And Syanne, I am guessing that’s the way you wanted your own name spelt!
How many did I get right?
My wife and I actually discussed names for children if we ever have them, and since we decided that we’ll only have one at most, we’ve only got one choice for each gender.
If it’s a boy, he’ll be called Joshua, and if it’s a girl, she’ll be called Rachel. Both are Biblical heroes, though I must admit Rachel has a rather short life.
Going with Biblical heroines, it might have been better if she were named Ruth, but I’ve seen how kids make fun of girls named Ruth I thought it better if my daughter didn’t have to bear that.