Don’t ask how it’s spelled, either. It won’t help.
Three syllables. That’s it. My first name and my last name is three syllables. Total.
So, maybe not so much hard-to-pronounce as it is unconventional for most people.
How to Pronounce Vijoy Rao:
See? Not so bad. Also, it’s spelled V-I-J-O-Y and R-A-O so it’s not phonetic.
Sorry if that pisses you off, but you want to know what else isn’t phonetic? The word “phonetic.” Boom.
I’ve lived my whole life repeating my name, correcting people on spelling and pronunciation, and responding to misspellings and mispronunciations anyway (*shakes fist at every Starbucks barista ever*). But for real, it’s not all that bad. I still truly love my name and I am not at all complaining about it. It’s been an exercise in patience, to say the least.
Patience can be learned. Patience should be learned.
Turns out that that learned patience has been helpful to my business venture, helping me develop the brand and character of Magic Room Brand music supply. At the end of the day, names are really all about branding.
Here are three things that having an unconventional name has taught me about building a brand:
1. Don’t dumb it down for anyone. Ever.
Challenge people. Be who you are and let them be who they are. Give them the chance to step up and raise their game. Then, see what they do with that chance. This offers you a unique opportunity to learn something about them in the first few seconds.
Do they ask you to repeat yourself so they can be sure to learn it and get it right? (Cool.)
Do they look at you in confusion and then take the liberty to tell you what nickname they’re going to give you? E.g. “Huh? Whatever. I’ll just call you Ben!” (Nope. Fuck you.)
Do they immediately make fun of it and you? Literally taking the only thing they know about you and belittling it to a punchline? (Lately, I’ve enjoyed handling this by just staring at them blankly until they stew in their own awkwardness. Petty? Probably. Hilarious for me? Hell yeah.)
2. Be more than just a name.
In the end, names don’t matter all that much. It’s not the name that gives you character, but rather character that give meaning to the name. What you choose to stand for is what will define you. (Writer’s note: I came so close to unintentionally quoting Batman just then.)
But for real, if you changed your name just to make it easier for everyone else, then who the hell would you be?
3. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
I know, I know. Believe me, I know. It’s a tall ask. I get it. But more often than not, they’ll surprise you. Attracting people that like to be challenged and that understand the perpetual journey of improvement only makes you and/or your brand stronger.
I am still working on this, I admit, but anyone that tells you that they have it all figured out is lying.
Full disclosure: I purposefully gave my three sons very phonetic, easy-to-pronounce names.
They’ll always have their last names, though, so I feel like they’ll earn their stripes with that struggle. But c’mon, first days of school are hard enough. Meeting girls is hard enough.
My school days are over and the “meeting girls,” in the sense which I meant, has been scratched off my life’s to-do list in grand fashion. So now, it’s different. Now, I like the challenge.
Because now, the value of the social currency that is exchanged when meeting someone is much higher. You’re expected to remember people’s names, their faces, where and when you may have met them before, what common friends you might have, their profession, and their kids’ names.
If that seems like a lot, it’s only because it absolutely is.
But I guess part of challenging other people is also giving yourself that same challenge. If that’s where growth happens, then it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
#bewhatyoumake
