Ehulani.
I always wished I had the more common names of "Jennifer", "Jessica", "Maria" or "Christina". Everyone could pronounce those names--easily. Plus they had cute lil nick names for them. I never liked having to teach people what my name meant, plus most would snicker at such a long, awkward name. It made me dislike it even more. Throughout my school years I ended up shortening my name to just, "Lani"....something a lil easier and more common. However, I would still get the occasional substitute teacher who would TRY to pronounce my name during roll call....
"EEEE..., um, EEEE-you? EEE-you-lay-knee?"
At this point, half of the class would be laughing while the other half is trying to help the poor sub say my name correctly. I always dreaded 'substitute teacher' days.
Occasionally I'd have a friend or two that insisted on calling me, "Ehulani". I sorta cringed because it was such a long ugly name. It wasn't until I was in college that I started to appreciate my name. My brothers gave me my name which means, "red mist of heaven"--which is the sky at sunset.
I love my name now and actually cringe anytime anyone calls me "Lani". Honestly, I hate it--with the exception of 3 friends. Other than that, I'd prefer if people call me, "Ehulani" or those close to me, "Ehu".
I still have a hard time with my name. It is a lil burdensome...especially when meeting people for the first time. It'll usually sound like this:
Them: "Hi, I'm ___________"
Me: "Hi ________, I'm Ehulani, nice to meet you."
Them: "Wait, what? What's your name?"
Me: "A-who-lawn-EE"
Them: "A-who...what?"
Me: "A-who-lawn-EE".
Them: "Ah-lawn-EE??"
Me: "Hold on, I'll tell you a joke. 'Knock knock'".....
[To which the person is so confused at this point that they forget how a "knock knock" joke goes".]
((JOKE: "Knock knock"...."who's there?"....."A"......"A who?"......"A-who-lawn-EE"))
The joke really helps, but the unfortunate part to the above scenario is that I leave that conversation not remembering the other person's name AT ALL. I just spent the next 5 minutes teaching them my name that I can't remember their name for the life of me!! So then I look like the idiot who can't remember a simple name!! UGH!!
Anyways...so there ya go. The woes of having a unique name. Thank goodness I'll be naming my son, "Jack".
