tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420382079088865756.post6719051445626498999..comments2024-02-07T11:09:54.023-05:00Comments on Immigrations–Ethnicities–Racial Situations: Greek Names, Old and New Technologies of AmericanizationYiorgos Anagnostou – Γιώργος Αναγνώστουhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06469306259582509171noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4420382079088865756.post-62067336980357189642011-11-19T23:55:12.077-05:002011-11-19T23:55:12.077-05:00Yiorgo,
I enjoyed your blog, but feel I must poi...Yiorgo,<br /><br /><br />I enjoyed your blog, but feel I must point out that names can be equally difficult to process when going in the other direction, and<br />sometimes I get it twisted both ways.<br /><br />Most people "translate" names and unfamiliar words so as to be able to slot them into cultural categories that they are familiar with.<br /><br />Since my accent is English, I find that as often as not "Samaras" gets heard and processed as being "Summers" Even when seen on paper it can lead to other interpretations. We have a large Sikh community here,and they see and hear it as the Punjabi family name "Samra", and<br />people from the Baltic area ask me if it is Lithuanian.<br /><br />Conversely Greeks have never quite caught on to my given name either, usually they hear and see it as Yulie or Yulia.<br /><br />The name I chose for my daughter was "Georgina" which combined memories of my late grandmother and also linked to Spiros' sister Georgia.<br /><br />However her full name is Zmaragda Georgina. This gave her the benefit of TWO saints days AND the choice of a name that could work in both of our language/cultural groups.<br /><br />Even so she has more or less always used Zmaragda, but with some variations and nicknames from her girl friends {Zee, Esmeralda) andbecause of the Z and SS's sometimes she gets asked if she is Polish or<br />Hungarian. She has red hair which confuses the Greeks as well.<br /><br />In England they always call her Georgina by default, since she was baptised Anglican just two weeks before she went on to Greece for the<br />full Orthodox immersion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com