A Quvenzhané by Any Other Name…

quvenzhane-wallis

In the wake of the hullaballoo over folks refusing to say Quvenzhané Wallis’ name got me to thinking: what’s the most hilarious/horrifying experience people have had regarding their “unconventional” or “ethnic” names?

Here’s how Twitter responded.

Got any stories/gripes of your own? Post ’em up!

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.
  • My name is Wasi – it rhymes with Lassie. You’d think it would be pretty simple…
    Pronunciations I get: Wazzy – Wozzy – Wossy – even Wah-zi and Vassy – and on the phone: Wesley (I am not a guy, thank you), Ashley, Lesley…

    • Ashley? Lesley? wtf?

  • But on the good side, the benefit of having a hard-to-pronounce name is that it makes it that much easier to identify telemarketers & creditors when they call.

  • DMac

    People can pronounce my last name, but its Scottish. It amazes me how many White people ask, “I don’t understand, how do you have a Scottish last name?” And then I have to explain that once upon a time there was this thing called slavery…