My Name

I have tonnes of people commenting on my name. It is on my identity card, I didn't make it up at all. I have a sneaky feeling that my mum did though.. she gave me the name.

I used to grow up wishing that I have a more common name like Mary or Karen or Amy. I hate having my name mispronounced all the time, and I have to constantly correct people. Mis-spelling it wasn't half as bad as mispronouncing it. Is it so hard to pronounce? Fen nilina - it is phonetic! You will be horrified how wrong some people can mispronounce it!

I remembered how everyone in class will wait for the teacher to call out my name for the 1st time. Everyone seemed to be waiting in anticipation for the moment when my name comes out of the teachers' mouths. Most times they would get it wrong and everyone would laugh, and when a teacher gets it right (usually it will be the English teacher) everyone would start cheering and clapping as if they were being told there were no lessons for the day. Sigh... I kinda miss those moments myself now. It was a huge embarrassment then.

There had been times when I get "pick up" lines from men because of my name. I was told once that Fen nilina was a little white flower that grows up in the mountains in Tunisia. Another guy said that my name "unfolds like a beautiful origami" after I told him Fenn was short for Fen nilina (my personal favourite!)

A number of people commented that my name sounded Irish. An Irishman once told me that he was going to name his baby girl Fen nilina. Could be just talk (you know the Irish sure are smooth talkers), I never know, but suddenly, my name wasn't so special anymore. I was robbed of my name! i felt that way for a teeny weeny while and then smiled. It is nice to know that there is another Fen nilna somewhere!

I have long come to really love my name though. And for the record, it is pronounce as "FAN-NI-LI-NA"