The list of bar exam top notchers and board passers have been released and those who found their names on the list are naturally euphoric. Their parents must be in cloud nine too.
Special mention of course are the UP and Ateneo graduates for garnering the top slots.
Those with peculiar names also hugged the limelight. The local tv interviewed the new attorneys named Habeas Corpuz and Nat King Coles, pronounced as co-less.
Yesterday, I was sifting thru the job applications and I also found some nice and uncommon names like Artlannette, Wirlette, Milwaukee, Saver, Dublin.
This morning my daughter told me that she knew people by the name of Magic Tiongson, Michael Jacks Ong.
When my son was still dating someone, Oyen was teasing him what to name his children: George Cloon Yee and Katy Perr Yee.
What’s in a name?
If your surname sounds peculiar like Biglang gahasa, Bukaka, then there are only two things that you could do. One is to just ignore people’s hush-hush or go to the courts and petition for a change of surname.
Our surnames are inherited from our forefathers. There’s not much we can do to change it. We don’t have the liberty to choose, except in certain instances like in America when one becomes an American Citizen, you could choose to Americanize your name or make it nicer.
It’s a totally different story when it comes to first names. Parents get to choose. They have 9 months to decide on an appropriate name. Minsan nga, lampas pa ng 9 months. Mag boyfriend pa lang they plan na on what names to give their future babies.
We don’t give our children names that would for sure subject them from ridicule. Why invite trouble? I know how it feels because I for one went through a lot of hurt enduring mindless people’s insults.
My name is Annie C. Tan. To my classmates and to some teachers, I am Annie Tanga. Some call me Annie Tan- Ji- Ey. Same thing, TanGA.
For a young girl, these daily insults, teasing, taunting, mocking, were too much. Most of the time I didn’t want to go to school. But it was a choice between being mocked in school or screamed at at home for not going to school. Syempre, pasok na ako sa school.
My classmates and other pupils from other classes, had so much fun calling me tanjiey. Even when I was already in high school, as soon as I stepped inside the quadrangle, a loud voice or voices, or chorus would scream Annie TAANNN JIIII EYYY. That’s why I never liked school. That’s why I never focused on being a top student. There’s nothing there that motivated me to excel. The atmosphere was hostile, unwelcoming. I was always ridiculed and insulted.
People who were totally unprovoked liked to pick on me. Sometimes they even add Annie Tanjiey, anak ng instsik. Oh fine. They’re not only bullies but racists also.
My father did not err in having TAN as his surname. He was brought into this world as an Instsik so there’s really nothing he could do about it.
In this case, my humiliations had nothing to do with my cute name or genetic composition. I just found myself living in a place where there were many mindless people. I had to endure years of humiliation and ridicule from people who were not raised properly by their parents. Maybe their parents were also mindless and thoughtless.
Kung ako nga, maganda ang name ko and yet I was still subjected to insults, what more if parents deliberately conjure up names that would invite teasing from classmates, schoolmates, playmates, and strangers. Why do that?
Parents, please come to your senses. There is nothing positive about naming your child Vaculao, Vulakvol. Maybe the following names are catchy – Rolls Royce, Rolex, Patek Philip. Magic Johnson, Louis Vuitton, Gucci. But why risk having your child bullied and ridiculed? That’s not funny or good at all. Yes, it shows you are creative and have a way with words, but at the expense of your children’s emotional and psychological welfare. The name could be funny, easy to remember but I bet, it’s not funny to your children.
If your surname is Suka, please don’t even think of naming your child Toyota.
Why name your daughter Patrick instead of Patrice? Your son Joann instead of John? Is that something to be happy about? Yes, we like jokes, but parents must not treat naming their children as a joke.
Their children would carry the name forever. It’s a title that would identify and separate them from the rest of humanity. – omb
Hi Ms Annie! You indeed have a point here. I have witnessed a lot of people being laughed at or ridiculed bec of their names/surnames. And yes, there’s hardly we can do with our lastnames, so parents should really consider how their children will live up to it until they grow old…. But there’s also one thing that really ‘entertains’ me a lot everytime i run through the pile of Resumes we have in the resto 🙂 …. I beg not to sound mean at all, but i cant stop laughing to myself (or sharing it with the other Partners) when there are names that dont really ‘match’ the *lastname (very foreign name with a very local lastname) / or the name not matching how the person *looks (very Brit yung name then sobrang pango ang ilong nung may pangalan) / and sometimes the name doesnt really match the person’s *profile (name sounds too mayaman as to where the person came from)! ^^Ooops, i dont mean to offend anyone here please 🙂 …. Just sharing actually! Have a good read everyone!