Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 August 2008 12:56:33
I deal with dozens of medical records a day, mostly having to do with newborns or small children in-hospital. Some interesting names come up.
There's a little girl named Trashay, the poor tot.
At times I'll use a search function in my billing program and I'll end up with six or eight kids with the same name. Sometimes with a slight variation -- but, still, in this part of the country they might have similar last names...
Destiny, Dezdeni, Destinee and Destini, or
Chassidy, Chastity and Chastiti, or
Alexis, Alexus and Alix, or
Deisia, D'asia, Deijah and Deisha, or
Keyandra, Keiara, Keyerra, Ceierra, Ciarra, Sierra, Zeera
might all have surnames like
Veret, Verret, Verrett, or Verrette, or LeBoeuf/LeBouef, or Chiasson/Chaisson, or one of several dozen prolific Williams, Washington or Boudreaux families.
One of the delights of my day is to hear the medical assistants in a whispered conference, trying to get the pronunciation halfway right on a child's name before they have to yell it over the cacophony in the waiting room -- it's like going on stage with an incomplete script, you're not sure how the audience will receive your interpretation:
"Daquarius! Dajuan! Tajalexis!"
"Deshante! D'ashanti! Dajontay! D'shawntay!"
I really enjoy learning how the patient wants his/her name pronounced. It's their own name, fer goodness' sake! We need to at least try to say it correctly.
"Duc! Phuc! Trahn! Tran! Phan! Li! Ly! Duong! Dung! Dong!"
Oh, it's so much fun, [Roll Eyes] to have a worried and irritated Mom on the phone, asking you to make a medical appointment for her child -- the way she'll sigh an exasperated sigh because she's so tired of being asked to spell the baby's name every blessed time she tries to do any sort of telephone business for the child!
Lord, give me strength. Mama should have named the boy Frank instead of Fantasia. She should have named the girl Darlene rather than Dasheiki.
The daddy could have named the boy Gabe, or Gabriel, and spelled it that way to get it pronounced the American way, gay-bree-ell. Instead they spelled it Gabryell. Now they wonder why their boy gets called gah-bree-ell. Which is a perfectly fine boy's name in many countries -- but over here it's pronounced that way for girls, as in "Gabrielle". The little Papa seemed irritated when I had to phone him recently, and I used the European pronunciation. Well, heck, he's doomed the kid to receiving the "wrong" pronunciation for the rest of his life, in American English anyway.
Sheesh. It's your own fault, parents.
Oh, but my favorite, my absolute favorite, guaranteed to bring sunshine into the most boring business day... We all love it when this child comes in for a visit, especially when the new assistants have to venture out into the waiting room calling him for the first time...
"Shoshkinguyenbob!"