By Dara Tan (27A01A)

My name is Dara Tan. 

Did you do a double-take? Did you think to yourself, “what an interesting name?” Or google the meaning of my name? 

I have lived with the debilitating experience of first-time introductions for the entirety of my life. People have mispronounced, misspelled, misspelled and forgotten my name, while others have remembered me solely because of it. I have endured plenty of teasing as a child (“Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer!”) and suffered through spelling my name out to confused teachers and friends. 

But having a unique name can be fun and amusing, and it has its perks at times. 

These are only some of the experiences of having a unique name. 

#1: Mispronunciation

Picture this: a bright eyed, excited Primary One student, starting primary school for the first time, full of anticipation for the first day of school. And then, he/she is asked how his/her name is pronounced. He/she pronounces it carefully, only for the teacher to absolutely butcher it the first time. And the second, and the third, and only after several corrections does the teacher finally say it correctly.

I went through this experience several times in primary school and secondary school. People could never seem to pronounce my name correctly on their first try; they would look at my written name, pronounce it (Deh-rah), and I would have to correct them. Again and again. 

Source: Reddit

Others have experienced similar situations. As Zerlielle Tan (27A01E) says, “One of my pet peeves is people pronouncing my name wrongly with confidence after asking me to repeat it multiple times.” Ignatius Yeong (27S06A) shared, “My geography teacher called me Uganda once, and at an award ceremony, the announcer straight up called me Iguana.” 

Source: Reddit

Having a name that is more likely to be mispronounced is a trait shared across all unique names. But Atalie Loi (27S03H) believes that it can be entertaining. “Every time someone pronounces my name in a new way, my friends, family and I get a good laugh out of it.” There are certainly upsides to the mispronunciation of our names.

Still, when you meet people with names like us, do try your best to get our names right the first try.

#2: Spelling

Photo of my misspelled name on my ordered luggage tag.

A couple of months ago, I ordered a luggage tag in preparation for the June holidays. A few days later, when it arrived, I saw, to my horror, that it had been changed from “Dara Tan” to “Dora Tan.”

Fortunately, once a complaint had been sent in, a new one, this time correctly spelled, was shipped out in a few days. Still, this example serves to illustrate another peril of having a unique name—the spelling. 

Many people with unique names find their names misspelled, and consequently have to constantly correct others. When such names are typed or written out, there are bound to be typos, or worse, complete misspellings of them. (See #4 Typos)

As Uistean Yap (27S03K) shared, “When teachers or new friends call my name at the start of school, they will all find ways to spell it differently, even when I spell it out for them. I’m too lazy to correct them so my singular name ends up having many different spellings across multiple people.” Still, he thinks it is funnier than it is annoying, so perhaps the added amusement can be considered a boon for those with unique names.

#3 Memorable

The famous, or rather, infamous, Singaporean NRIC. Source: Reddit

There is an inherent advantage of having a unique name: it is memorable and unique, making it very hard to be confused with another person, and it lends to our feeling of being special. On contact lists, our surnames won’t be required, nor will any other adjective or additional comment, like (1A), be needed. 

Unique names also give you that “it” factor that can’t be obtained through other means, that sense of having a unique characteristic unlike others around you. As Hanaka Goh (27S06H) says, “I like how some people still remember my name even after having not seen them for many years (although I’ve long forgotten their names). I’ve not met anyone with this name before, even in Japan, so I like to think that I’m the only person in the world with my exact name. It makes me feel special.” 

And who doesn’t like feeling special?

#4 Typos

This one happens to be personal for me.

Every time I write my name in a word-processing software, or type it out on a phone, the dotted red line, always, always, appears beneath my name. It’s irritating, and only happens to those with more uncommon and unconventional names. 

Like mine. 

I’ve seen “regular” names get by just fine. Think of your Joshuas, Chloes, and Ryans. They never have the dotted red line beneath their names, and the keyboard never autocorrects their names to something else. 

For me, how I get around it is having “Dara” saved as a word on my phone, just so it won’t autocorrect. But frankly, having to do so in the first place is yet another quirk of having a unique name.

Source: Facebook

#5 Unique Quirks of Having a Unique Name

This one is, well, unique. It varies from person to person, and hence this miscellaneous section of all of the random quirks of having a unique name. 

Jovina Cheong (27A01A) shared, “Something I do like about having a unique name is that mine is aesthetic.” How aesthetic a name is, of course, different from person to person, but I cannot deny that unique names are more likely to be considered “aesthetic” and memed on. 

Zerlielle also mentioned, “I like the fact that I’ll probably not meet someone else with the same name as me, and so I will probably never experience the weird feeling of calling someone else by my name.”, which is another valid point. Calling someone else by your name would be rather awkward for the first few times, no matter whether you get used to it or not. (I once had two classmates, in the same class, with the same first and last name.)

Source: Reddit

Conclusion

Having a unique name isn’t all that bad, and I quite like mine. But I think that having a unique name undoubtedly sets you up for rather interesting life experiences.

Source: Business Insider

Whether you do have a more uncommon name, or a more conventional one, I hope that this article illustrates the experience of having a unique name and gives you greater sympathy for our plight. 

So, next time you snicker or double-take at a unique name, please remember our perils.