My name is Karoun Chahinian. Fifteen letters, five syllables, an intimidating number of vowels—and, based on how my Canadian friends struggle to pronounce it, quite the mouthful.
It also didn’t help that I’m Armenian, so I had, let’s say, a generous helping of eyebrow, which led to the lovely nickname “Karounibrow” in sixth grade. By then, I didn’t like my name at all, and started to do everything I could to help people pronounce it more easily. This ultimately meant accepting the Canadian pronunciation, which is something that I realized a lot of people with unique names or unusual spellings do. Even the ever-relatable Chrissy Teigen.
I know. I even correct people when they say it correctly. it’s all v effed up https://t.co/aJkweIiL7H I don’t correct people, ever. They can call me Janet and I won’t. Wrong order? I’ll eat it. Taxi going to the wrong airport? I’ll change my flight. https://t.co/eSZDvKRaRKThis internet debate even followed her to the Emmys; at the September 17 awards show, a reporter asked Teigen how she’d like people to pronounce her name during a red carpet interview. “Tee-gen. Sorry, Dad!” she replied.
It only got more complicated as I got older. All through 12th grade, I debated whether I should just go by my middle name, Catherine. It was simple enough, so it would be truly impressive if someone managed to mispronounce it. By then, I knew I wanted to be a journalist, and I was already wondering whether people would butcher my name if I went into broadcast—and if my name would hold me back professionally. My parents convinced me to stick with Karoun, and they were right.
Something about my identity made me feel less-than, and my name was an immediate reminder of that, even when it wasn’t pronounced the Armenian way. It was only after I’d been dating my first boyfriend for a month that I realized he didn’t know how to correctly pronounce my name, and that was because I didn’t actually teach him—nor did I want to. When that realization dawned on me, I immediately felt sick to my stomach because I knew it wasn’t healthy for me to feel this way.
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