My Name Firoozeh Dumas Analysis

Names are given by parents before or after children are born, and the names can vary depending on the ethnic group or culture that the person belongs to. Many people from all around the world immigrate to the United States every year, and one method that some of them use to fit in better into the American society is changing their names, which most of the time works. Immigrants that want to fit into American society should change their names because it can improve their labour market chances, and they could prevent discrimination.

In Firoozeh Dumas’s story, “The F Word” from Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003), Dumas recalls her struggle of growing up in America with an Immigrant name. She begins her story by telling us the similar struggle her brother, cousin, and friends went through right along side of her. The kids at their school took their Iranian names, which had a special meaning in their country, and turned them into a cruel joke. She goes on to tell us that all the immigrants knew that moving to America would come with its own set of new challenges, but nobody expected to be the joke of the school because of their names. Her name, Firoozeh, which means “turquoise” in Persian, translated to “Unpronounceable” in America. At the age of twelve, Dumas was fed up of the laughing and name calling. She tried to simplify her life by adding an American middle name to her impossibly hard to pronounce Iranian name. Her decision for an American middle name grew intenser after kids began calling her “Ferocious” in fifth grade. That summer when she moved to Newport Beach, she declared to her family that she wanted to add an American middle name to her name. Immune from mockery, she asked for suggestions from her family members and she finally settled with the name “Julie” as her new American middle name. That afternoon, she introduced herself for the first time as Julie to a neighbor girl her age, who coincidentally was also named Julie. Her life in sixth grade became much simpler because people were actually remembering her name for a change. There were only two problems: people spoke poorly about immigrants in front of her because they didn’t see her as an immigrant with her American name and she no longer felt like herself.

It is not uncommon to sometimes hear or see what here in America is considered to be a strange or different name and decide to make fun of it or the holder of that name. This is a major obstacle that an Iranian immigrant named Firoozeh Dumas, author of “The ‘F-Word” had to face. She illustrates a picture using words about the hardships that her name has brought upon her during her entire life. Throughout her essay, she uses real-life examples, humor, and a conversational tone to show her audience the poverty she faced when transitioning from the Iranian culture to the American culture.

Firoozeh Dumas’s essay “The ‘F  Word” is not what audience think it would be about.  When the audience hears the someone mention the “F” word all sorts of ideas pop into their head. Yet, Dumas twists the meaning of her title into something the audience wouldn't think of when they hear it. In today's American Society people are judged by more than just the color of their skin, for instance in Dumas’s case it was by her name.  Society has an image of what everyone should be like from their looks to the name they go by.  In the article Dumas explains her experience as an immigrant from Iran to the US. Dumas shows how hard it is for someone to come to America and live with an unusual name. This is blatantly apparent  during her childhood because the children would make fun of her and the rest of her family’s name. To counter this, Firoozeh decided to add Julie as an American middle name so strangers would not feel so awkward around her. Julie became the author’s middle name which caused her to play a “double role” in her life. This was because her family knew her as Firoozeh and her friends and coworkers that knew her as Julie. Later, when she became a stay at home mom Dumas decided to be called by Firoozeh again. This return caused her some uncomfortable situations since the “double roles” collided. Dumas states, “make room in the spice cabinet.” because she  believes that Americans should be more opened minded to new pronunciations, sounds, and names.

At birth everyone is given a name by their parents. Your name is part of your identity and how you are addressed and recognized by the world. The different verities among the population created other names given to different races. These names are offensive, demeaning and are only used to refer to a person in a disrespectful manner. They can also cause a segregation among a nations people, these names are forced upon people weather they are rich or poor, old or young, male or female and are used to describe the same race of people. In the class reading "What 's in a Name? “by Henry Louis Gates he reminisces about a personal experience of his that he had with his father. In the story he describes his father was a hard worker and, because of this he was in high financial standings and, he was well respected and given privileges that at the time was rare for people of his race but he was still black and his name, his individual identity was not important instead he was given a racial identity, this is the only thing he was known as, this type of negative recognition is something many black Americans can relate to. One’s race is a predominant part of our identity and is what causes discrimination.

These kinds of behaviors are what caused Amy to think of changing her culture and become more American. Unlike Amy Tan, Firoozeh Dumas struggled with identity. Moving from Iran with her family, Dumas has struggled with teasing and bullying because of her. Dumas’s name Firoozeh means “Turquoise” in Farsi. While living in the US, ignorant people have made fun of Firoozeh’s name. In the essay “The ‘F Word,’” Dumas narrates about the struggles of having a different name that’s always pronounced wrong because ignorant Americans refuse to learn it. She also talks about how her brothers and friend suffered with this too. Dumas not only struggled with ignorant people not pronouncing her name right, she could not get a job. When she was young, Dumas decided to change her name to Julie. Having an American name changed everything for her. Students at her school began to recognize her and invite her to social gatherings. Once she got to college, Dumas changed her name back to Firoozeh. But that became a problem after she graduated because she could not find a job. “After three months of rejections, I added “Julie” to my

In the memoir “By Any Other Name” by Santha Ram Rau, we learn how cultural identity can be weakened within someone however, never truly stripped. A name reflects your cultural identity along with everything about who your are. When arrived at school, Santha and Premila learned they didn’t have proper english names as the headmistress exclaimed “[M]y dears, those [names] are much too hard for me. Suppose we give you pretty English names.”(1). Your name reflects upon your cultural identity, as many places around the world have different spellings, annunciation, and name popularity. Changing your name cuts the connections one has with their culture as english names don’t tie back with indian culture. Cultural language also ties with one’s identity

Parents specifically chose names for their children that become who society sees one as. A name relates to one culture and is part of one's fingerprint. Fingerprints are unique. In Drew Taylor’s play Only Drunks and Children tell the Truth, Janice is a character who refuses to connect with her true culture as seen because her name changes from Grace (birth name) to Janice (foster family name).

After his parents unwillingly gave Gogol a legal-yet-pet-name, schools, doctors, and facilities in America would all refer to him as such. In America, his pet-name was not his pet-name; rather, it was his actual name, and this began with his first school principal. After changing his name at an older age, Nikhil tried to remove all connections with his original name. He never mentioned it to those he met after changing his name. He disliked when his mother called him Gogol during social events and when Moushimi blurted his name-changing story. Names are something special to society. Like colors on a painter's palette, classes in a computer program, and definitions in a dictionary, our names are used so we as people can easily be referenced, conversed with, and legally maneuver. I don't believe names define who we are, but I do believe we have the ability to give our name a reputation. I do not have a pet name, and I've been called Kwasi my entire life. Only three people in my life call me “Kwas”, and should anyone else do it beside those three, I get rather irritated. I love my name in its entirety; there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. My parents have no concrete method of choosing names. However, my siblings and myself had the opportunity to have similar names: Kwamesha, Kwame, and

Firstly, In the article “Girl fights to use unapproved name “language is visible as a name is a huge part of language and for each religion it differently spelled, pronounced and the way its given to a child. Name is a main part of language and it is main part of a person’s identity. However, in the article, “Girl fights to use unapproved name” Baler’s right of her identity is being taken away from her. Baler’s mom Eidsdottir is supporting language and identity for her daughter

The study explores different cases of immigrants who use their ethnic or English names. Some of the reasons for using English names are: the name provoking offensive reactions from the majority, growing too tired to explain the unfamiliar spelling and pronunciation, frequent questions about their ethnicity or where they originate from, assumptions of foreignness, name too long to fit in the system, frequent mistakes in the official documents because it is so unfamiliar (mixing up first/last name). Study states that the “unusual” name provokes and sets up a ground for power asymmetry; when a person from majority comments on an ethnic name, it can be viewed as having the right to make judgments about the immigrant, as if the name is subject for

My family of five is blessed to have unique names that are quite different from the common “Sams” and “Johns” floating around the United States. However, it is not the tongue twister names that confuse people as they get acquainted with my family. When I share the names to others, I never fail to baffle people at the end of my list, Heonsu, Misug, Onyoo, Youngeun, and Sarah. “Sarah?” they exclaim. “Wait, what? Why is her name different?”. Every time this occurs, I am forced to explain in my practiced speech tone, “My family immigrated to the United States from South Korea when I was six. We all have Korean names, but my little sister was born here, so she has an American name.” Most people are satisfied with this answer before I can splurge with more information. They just leave, scratching the backs of their heads and continue with their mundane tasks. As a result, no one truly knows all the bizarre events that led to my little sister’s common name.

In the essay “What’s in a name”, the author Richard Casta believes that name relates to a person’s individual identity and cultural identity but it will not affect the person’s individual development. A person’s name is a basic identity for a person and it has large connection with this person’s background. In the immigrant’s family, parents always struggle with what kind of name that parents need to give their children. If parents give a baby for a foreign name, they may hard to fit into the local society. Also the child may have extra worries of the problems of pronouncing the wrong name.

Often individuals who know what their name means can become enlightened by its meaning. When the meaning of a name is known the individual often finds

At the start of class, the first item on the to-do checklist of an instructor is to obtain an overall sum of who is present and who isn’t. A share of those names are Asian Americans who will have an English name prearranged or will request a nickname that they favor, which will undoubtedly be an English name in several circumstances. Once questioned as to why the individual has/prefers an English name the answer is typically their authentic name is ‘too challenging’ to pronounce. However, many will offer to study the individual’s real Asian name if they desire to use it, yet these students still resist and wish to occupy an English name, even when the name is considerably simplistic to recall nevertheless they refuse to adopt it! Consequently, this further proposes that there are additional explanations beyond the pronunciation concerns.