so, there was another amazing bahai conference this weekend. this one was actually in chicago, and it was on the topic of bahai scholarship, which is at once exciting, overwhelming, and completely encouraging for those dejected at the current plight of humanity. good stuff.
enlightening and engaging as it all may be, however, bahai scholarship is not really the topic of this entry. what i wanted to blog about is this: sometimes i feel like i'm really a dime a dozen. you see, my name, naseem, is waaaaay more common than one might think. among persians, and especially within the persian bahai community, there are some names that are ridiculously overused. mine is one of them. and this weekend i was reminded of that... at times, it can start to feel like i'm just another persian girl named naseem.
i first became aware of this situation when i was 14... i was at a bahai conference and i took a picture with 6 other naseems who were in attendance that weekend. we thought 6 was a lot... but these days, i know about 20 naseems. i'm sure there is a plethora out there with which i remain unacquainted...
spellings vary, of course, but we all suffer from name confusion. and what's worse, many many persians also suffer from this affliction. though our names are rare, strange, and unpronounceable in the average american public school, they are so common in our community that they saturate the social verbage of most bahai conferences and confuse the hell out of anyone trying to tell a story involving any persians. it can be really frustrating--especially for those of us who unwittingly cause all this madness (though it's our parents' fault, of course). but regardless... i somehow feel it's time for us all to get a little creative....
thus, in the interest of reducing confusion and promoting uniqueness in the next generation of children, i suggest my persian peers and i collectively pledge to categorically avoid the following names when deciding what our children will be called for the rest of their lives:
GIRLS
leila
leili
may
mona
nadia
naseem
neda
shirien
BOYS
anis
nabil
nima
omid
sina
p.s. you should all know that i know several people with each of these names, often more than i can count on my hands... in fact i have several cousins with repeats of these names. wow. it's really ridiculous. but i love them all. :)
Posted by naseem at April 6, 2005 05:01 PMYou maybe interested to know that amongst registered Bahais there are:
1st name
19 Naseem
14 Nassim
73 Nasim
Middle name
7 Naseem
0 Nassim
7 Nasim
There are also 3171 men name "John" on the rolls and 370 "Greg"s
Posted by: greg at April 7, 2005 10:03 AMIt would be cool if you could count the Persian Naseems instead of just the Baha'is. But I see your point, Greg. There are no less than 10 Bob Smiths here at work.
Posted by: george at April 7, 2005 11:27 AMI'm naming my son Mortimer or Harold. And my daughter will be Prunella.
Posted by: Andrew at April 11, 2005 12:29 AMprunella? wow, that one's original. ugly, of course, but at least i've never heard it before...
meanwhile, harold is in somewhat frequent use. so i would go with mortimer.
some other english names that would probably be pretty safe are eunice and gladys for girls, and sherlock and wentworth for boys. (or, mix it up on the gender... that might make it more interesting). :)
Posted by: nas at April 13, 2005 06:20 PMYou forgot my Bahai friend unique spelling of Naciem? The solution just spell it so no one can say it right!
Also Naseem you forgot Roya and Neda--also annoyingly frequent--so you have to elaborate!
I know more Qudus and Vahids and Tahirihs to make life confusing ....I will be naming my child Haydar Wakeen Hubregsen!
ummm, tem, i included neda--i actually think that one is the most frequent ly encountered of all the girl names. and i don't think roya is that common, actually. in fact, i know as many haydars as i do royas. but i support you if you wanna name your son haydar... it does mean lion, of course, but it's definitely a good one in terms of bahai historical significance. :)
meanwhile, i don't think spelling our names in strange ways is the solution. my name is spelled phonetically and people still can't say it right. so i'd rather not make things more complicated than they alrady are and yet still feel commonplace... that would just be an atrocity. :)
Posted by: nas at April 15, 2005 10:29 PMas a person with a last name that is not only unwieldy but also has no known correlation between its spelling and its pronouciation, i feel like a uniquely qualified honkey in terms of the street cred of my two cents and would, therefore, like to weigh in here... i would suggest all would-be parents check out the meaning of the word your naming your child in the language of the country your child will be growing up in... for instance, if your name of choice says "a rash" or means something like poor craftsmanship or is ridiculously close to "ho-dog" you should check yourself and realize you're making it a little to easy for the kids at recess... my last name is pronounced like "liver" in farsi, which, at first blush, may seem unfortunate, but, cultural differences be blessed, turns out to be a good thing since persians use the liver the way westerners use the heart a term of endearment... who knew... and in spanish it sounds like the one who wants or the one who loves, also not bad... unfortunately in english it's a little easy to mispronounce in some unfortunate ways... save the next generation... and no more bart simpson calling the bar names for baha'i photographers either... like sima cockshut... it makes it difficult for those of us who have beavis and butthead sitting on our shoulders and whispering in our ears... had to get me going on names, didn't you nas?
;)