09/06/2026
A sight we’ve never seen before - our last name on a store front sign! I must admit it’s nice to be in a place where people recognize and can pronunciate my names.
American kids made a lot of fun of my names when I was young, and adults have always struggled with the soft A and the rolling R that are inherent to the Scandinavian origins of ‘Astrid’. Though sweetly many comment on how much they love the Americanized version of it.
And ‘Jirka’ (which is Czech), in English, isn’t exactly pretty as people don’t seem to know that Js can be pronounced differently in different languages.
J in English is like the J in Jaguar
J in Spanish is like an H as in Conejo, meaning Rabbit
J in Germanic languages is like a Y as in Ja, meaning Yes - or Jawohl, meaning Indeed.
So, Ja und Jawohl, the US is a mixing pot of ethnicities and unique names. But I often hear those with more unusual names Anglicize their pronunciations, or sometimes even choose ‘classic American’ names that they go by instead. I understand the desire to fit in, but I think a lot gets lost when we give up on, or others don’t recognize, the origins and original pronunciations that relate to our family histories and cultures and ultimately our personal identities. I prefer my name the way my Austrian family says it, but I realize that’s not possible in the US.
The least we can do is ask people whose names are a little different how they’d like their names to be pronounced and do our best to get it right. And for those of us with names that are simply too challenging … well, it kind of feels like I live in two worlds and I guess that’s okay, though it’s taken me a lifetime to be at peace with that.
If you can relate, I’d love to hear your name :)
