« random post | Main | Jason Rowe and his Avatar »
June 16, 2007
What's in a Name?
I was reading posts on how to get a book published (my aunt keeps telling me I should write a book about my thyca experience, which is amusing because part of me has always planned to publish my memoirs), and I ran across this horse manure:
But side note: What’s up with her name? Who has any idea how to pronounce it? If you want people to talk about the stuff you do, you need a name people can say. Of course, this is easy for me to say since I’m already on my fourth name now. But remember how blogs did wonders for the book with the unprintable title? Maybe blogs can also do wonders for an author with the unpronounceable last name.So that's the end of a post that offers a decent round up of recently published books on work. It leaves me with a metallic taste in my mouth stronger than the one I'm getting from the radioactive iodine I recently swallowed.
I believe in the power of names. I'm sure I'm not the only woman whose father wanted boys so they could pass down the family name. It's the primary reason I'm determined to keep my name professionally: to prove that I too can make the Minsters proud, even if I'm not a guy. And while most US'ians mispronounce my name, at least the British understand it. But I would never advocate anglicizing an ethnic name. My mother's maiden name harkens all the way back to Ellis Island. They asked my great, great grandfather how to spell his name and he said "like the guy in front of me" because he was not fluent in English (and probably not literate in any language). So, yes, I think it's pretty damn important that we stand up for our sister citizens' ability to make it in the corporate world and the US society in general with whatever name they choose. "Brazen Careerist" seems code to me for "how to be accepted into mainstream, misogynist world." After all, one of the pull out pieces of advice from her book is to ignore sexual harassment.
The waves of feminists who paved the way for her success should be so proud of her accomplishments.
Don't get me wrong - Penelope (or whatever her real name is*) has some interesting insight to share and is a decent writer. Just don't spend too much time trying to analyze her politics or how the hell she lives with her advice and you might be able to stomach the crap long enough to gather the nuggets of truth.
*According to Wikipedia she was born Adrienne Roston. Too bad she feared her name was too ethnic for mass publishing.
Posted by cj at June 16, 2007 11:22 PM