Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan: Teaching America To Say My Name

It can be a burden to educate others, but sometimes the reward can have a vast ripple effect. Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan has this Perspective.

When I moved to this country, one of the first discoveries I made was that locals (not of Indian origin) could not say my name. My name is Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan – twenty-five letters and nine syllables. I heard many versions of this name being said, always emphasizing the wrong syllable.

In grad school, during roll call, when the professor frowned and hesitated to say a name, I would say, “here.” At doctors’ offices, if a nurse walked out with a chart and stared at the name, I would raise my hand and say, “That is me.” When I used my credit card at any store, I was prepared for the usual conversation – “How do you say your name? Oh wow, I could never say it in a million years” – I smiled along but was growing weary inside.

In grad school, I introduced myself as Shai Venkat to the world. If my name is anyway being butchered, I might as well butcher it the way I want. All was well until the day I got my Ph.D. degree. Unfortunately, the person calling out names had to use my full name. I heard my name being completely massacred. My parents were in the audience. My heart broke. That reenergized me to strive to teach others to pronounce my name correctly.

On becoming a professor, I jokingly told my students I would give extra credit to anyone who could say my name correctly. At the next class, students demonstrated how well they could say my name. I was overjoyed. Fast forward a few years, my brother went to a local bar. The bouncer at the door checked his ID and pronounced Venkatsubramanyan like an Indian. My brother was taken aback and asked him how he had done it. The bouncer’s reply – “I once had a professor by that name.”

America is a melting pot of people from across the world, and people can embrace and respect cultural differences with the right encouragement.

With a Perspective, I’m Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan.

Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan is a former college professor who lives in Los Gatos.