What's Your Name Research Paper

“What’s your name?” “Adzaan.”

Different types of feedback and reactions are garnered by me simply introducing myself to people. From reasonably curious questions such as “What is the origin of your name?” to blunt comments like, “How on earth did your parents come up with that? That’s so exotic.” along with some puzzled looks, I have encountered it all. Having navigated through life with my name for seventeen years, I’ve had plenty of practice and experience with dealing with my name being the subject of conversation. However, there was a time when the thought of being in these situations used to intimidate me. This especially applied to me when I was younger. Often times, when people inquired about my name, so many negative emotions were

I’ve always strove to deter people’s attention away from my name, just to avoid that anxiety. Doing so, however, the full story of my name was seldom told to people and I failed to really open up to people about a very important yet basic thing that has shaped my identity.

It was my father who had came up with my name. My dad is an African American Muslim while my mother is Catholic and of Polish descent. As I’ve been told, when I was born, my father insisted that I have a Quranic name similar to his. My name “Adzaan” is an alternative translation of the word “Adan”. “Adan” is an Islamic word that means “call to prayer”. With the declaration of “Adzaan” as my name, a lifelong journey of self acceptance was laid ahead of me. Particularly, with me being raised and educated in a small predominantly Catholic grade school, people with names and backgrounds like mine were not commonly encountered by the community. My name was something that often people I’ve interacted with such as classmates and teachers weren’t exposed to before. I’ve always been a reserved person who steers away from unnecessary attention. From a young age, I’ve always wanted to disappear and hide away for eternity when my name and the avalanche of questions