HOW DID YOUR PARENT NAME YOU, AND WHY?

On the fourth week of our Cross-Cultural Conversation, some are new, and others are old, but we all come together to learn from one another's cultures and inspire each other for a good cause. It was always joyful and satisfying to meet them every time on Saturday evening.

The day’s topic for that evening was in your culture: “How did your parent call your name when they are angry at you and when they are not?” Surprisingly, one of us told him that his parents were never angry with him because most of the time, he was at a boarding school. The other person next to him similarly mentioned he had the same experience. In contrast, all the others discussed differently. We experienced our parents calling us by our first name when they were not mad at us, but once they were upset, they changed the tone by adding our first and last names when they called us. One of us even said they sometimes throw their flip-flops at us.

The conversation leads us to the point where we must discuss how our parents name our names. My wife and I explained how we got our name from our parents, which is very different from all our friends who are with us. Our name was given by our grandparents using their name; for example, my name is Khumbiaklal (first name), which was named by my grandfather Nengzakhum using the last part of his name for the beginning of my name. We do that so that we can trace our family line back. Also, each word in the name has a meaning. This part was very close to our Chinese, Arab, Mexican, and Arab friends. They are given a name that has a meaning attached to it.

After all, in the end, we learn that our name has a meaning that our parents gave in the hope that we will also live out that name not to shame our family. Our name, which is beautifully given to us, also has a lot of accountabilities.