Hello! My name is Zainab. The origin of my name is Arabic. As much compliments I have gotten for my name, I was never really fond of it. Just a while ago I found out my mom named me and I grew to be more appreciative of name than ever before. Growing up, my name was always said incorrectly, and I was annoyed of this as a kid. I just didn’t like that such a sacred name that has a meaning let alone significance would always never been pronounced correctly. So, I would go about my days (even to this day) have my name butchered, and honestly speaking it doesn’t bother me anymore and I don’t seem offended as much. I still don’t like my name but I consider myself grateful that it is my name.
I am bilingual, so I speak English and Urdu fluently. A thing I fund really cool is that my name is pronounced differently when talking in English or Urdu. A quote that resonates me from the Zayn Malik article, “Representation can be simply the ability to imagine a shared experience with someone who is larger than life.” As a South Asian-American living in the United States it seems like we have to represent for our culture, which can be a little burdening but it makes people understand why we do what we don on some occasions. For example, going to the Mosque on Friday’s to pray because Jummah Mubarak or observing the month of Ramadan where we fast for 10+ hours.
I didn’t know you were bilingual!