What's In A Name

What’s in a name they say? It’s a proper noun so one can get away with a murderous pronunciation. But not with this one guy - when there was an argument over a pronunciation, to end it we told him it’s a proper Noun. but he was destined to say the last words – “then pronounce it PROPERLY!”
Being born in a Goan catholic family it was normal for me to have western Name compared to most parts in India. But mine was still unusual, as mostly the former Portuguese colony catholic names were influenced by saints and clergy. Mine was not!
I do not know what prompted my parents to zero in on that one. They never followed cricket so it could not be the West Indies captain that inspired them. Maybe it was my God parents – Lolly and Lydia, which sounds plausible.
Right from childhood it was a problem for people to get it right… they could never pronounce it. It was troy, Loyed, Loud, lied, light, Jo… aaagggh! Even till the 6th standard each of my class teachers had their own version of spelling my name. In their defense we normally spell the way we pronounce.
After school I thought my woes were over. But it was not to be… it followed me to work as well. My Second job was a call center job where I was in telesales, selling stuff to the US consumers. Whenever I said “Hi My name is Lloyd, how may I help you?” there was instant distrust. People could not just get by the fact that we Indian’s could have western names or for that matter we can be Catholics or we can speak good English!
My name not only confused the foreigners it confused our desi folks as well. To some I was foreigner which meant that some of my work got done faster in the internal departments. When they realized I was an Indian I had to wait in the queue just like the others. When in US I was either Spanish or a Mexican but that was more to do with my surname – Gracias.
Yes my name is Lloyd Joaquim Gracias. Not very common for an Indian :)
So there is a lot in a name – think twice before you name your kids because names like this just don’t make it easy

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Willow Camille Reign: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith