I am proud of my Austrain-neess, I am proud that my Dad comes from there and that my family are there and I have always thought of it as part of me and part of my home.However there is one curse to bear and that is my name. It is unique(that's an euphuism if ever I heard one.) It's long, it's not spelt how it's said and did I mention it's long?
And because I am living with a race of people have trouble understanding me at the best of times spelling it over the phone is a nightmare. And then people say "ohh are you German?' to which I reply "no I am Austrian"they reply "but you don't sound Austrian" and a whole boring conversation that I have had 200 times kicks off.
And did mention I always have to spell it? always.
And it's hard to go incognito with a name like mine, when you google it I am the only one that comes up. The only one on hotmail, the only one on facebook, the only one ever. I stand out in a name crowd that is for sure. Once when I was 9 I was in the Birkenenhead library and I heard two librarians mocking my name. I had an overdue books and they had to contact me (I was a terror for overdue books when I was younger, those rebellious days are now behind me) I heard them laughing at my name pushing me further into name shame.
Also when I have to sign for things, which is a lot at work. It takes ages and the security guy with the book I am signing makes himself a cup of tea while I am finishing my signature. So I just abbreviate it to Andrea Wohl.
So today I was signing my shortened name and suddenly thought Shit I only have this name for 8 more months. Then like a good 1950's housewife I will be taking Jamie's which is shorter and very English, and then I won't be able to take ages to sign or spell it anymore I will be one of the crowd.
So for the next 8 months I will be spelling my name with pride and taking the full 10 minutes to sign it and telling everyone that yes my name is Austrian, yes I have a kiwi accent and yes it is an unusual name and it's mine for a limited time only.
xxxx
ps like the good feminist that my Mum raised me to be I did consider keeping my name and then remembered that I am starting a new family together with Jamie blah blah blah and I felt like a change.
pps I did suggest that Jamie might want to change his name to mine. He didn't even answer the question, so I took that as a no.
