The first time I understood that names could hold two worlds was not by changing mine, but by hearing it differently. As a Pakistani child growing up in Canada, I learned early that my name could sound different depending on who was saying it. My name is simple and deeply familiar in my family. Yet in school and, later, in professional spaces, I became accustomed to the anglicized pronunciation.
Over time, I introduced myself that way at work, and still do, because it became my new normal. At home, my name still sounds like me.
Many young children, especially newcomer and racialized children, face similar circumstances from the earliest grades and learn to make this same quiet adjustment long before they can explain what they are giving up.
