My first language was Spanish until I first started school and English obviously took

over. Something that I still struggle with to this day is having my name said correctly. My name

is quite literally two simple names merged into one. But somehow my whole life people have

still found ways to mess up completely. The struggle of people mispronouncing your name is

very common for people who come from different cultures and linguistics that aren’t

“American”. I am Dominican and I speak Spanish. My parents also speak Spanish and when they

named me “Frida-mel ” it was supposed to be said in a Spanish accent, not anyways else. My

name, when pronounced in the correct Spanish accent, holds a big part of my identity. Because

for me it’s a reflection of my heritage and my culture. Growing up I had to get used to people

saying, Frida-mel, in an English and more boring way. It can be very disheartening when people

constantly mispronounce it and I just started to ignore it and accept every version of it. I

understand that for most people who don’t have a Spanish accent, it can be hard to say my name

with it but in most cases, I feel like most people simply don’t care and will pronounce any name

the way they want, which is ignorant. People tend to pronounce names in ways that are

comfortable to them even if it deviates from the correct pronunciation. I found myself at a

crossroads, whether to correct people every single time they mess up or simply give in and let

them say it however they want to. To me it was 50/50, meaning if I let people pronounce my

name however they please then I learn to appreciate the effort they make in addressing me by my

name, combined with their own accent, which to me is cool. On the other hand, I stay mad at

people for not pronouncing my very simple sweet name the way my beautiful parents intended it to be said. My mother spent 9 months deciding on the perfect name for her first daughter and

anytime anyone says it wrong she is quick to educate them. Although I’m grateful my mother has

stood up for me, I myself have started introducing my name to people with an English accent.

Not because I like it more but because I understand that for most people hearing my name for the

first time can be hard, pronouncing it perfectly each time can be hard