Names. They make up who we are. I am Saba and you are _____. Would I be a different person if I had a different name? Maybe. But that's not the point. The point is that I am so sick and tired of people not even attempting to try and pronounce other people's unique names.

My name isn't hard to pronounce (at least not to me) but I've been called Saa-baa by everyone outside of my culture and family and Sah-bah by my family. Ever since I was enrolled in school, everyone at school has called me that and when they ask me if they pronounced my name right, I nod my head, not wanting to go through the hassle of correcting everyone who knows me by Saa-baa.

While reading a book in English class, a character named Tariq is introduced. My classmates butchered the pronunciation as I sat in the back and winced. I tried to show them how to correctly pronounce Tariq but after one attempt at pronouncing it, they give up and say they'll just say Tariq their way. I might be getting mad over a character in a book, but at times, it seems these small incidents become bigger until it happens to someone whose name is difficult for others to pronounce.

You might scoff at me and tell me to stop being annoyed at not having my name pronounced correctly, and maybe it is my fault that I can't correct people. But I think that if we can try to accept other cultures and the names of those cultures, people would stop trying to fit in and embrace their cultures. People change their names from Mariam to Mary and Muhammad to Mo, just to fit in and make it easier for others to pronounce.

Next time you meet someone with a name you haven't heard of, ask them how to pronounce it, instead of shrugging and going with your interpreted pronunciation, because that shrug means disregarding a person's name, identity, and culture.