/i:fu:na:ŋjæ/

Growing up I didn’t really like any of my names. I didn’t dislike my first name, but people would always tell me it’s too long. I didn’t like my middle name any better, it was even longer and quite frankly I thought it was a boy’s name. 

Major disclaimer… I still really think it’s a boy’s name. 

I left for Italy in 2017 and ironically, it took leaving Nigeria to learn to love my name. I had mentally prepared myself for the name battery, so it didn’t shock me. However, it definitely bothered me more than I expected. The teachers would roll call from the register and I would always be the awkward pause. It got so regular that when I anticipated the pause, I would just yell “yes!” to avoid the awkwardness. At some point, I shortened my name to ‘Ifu’ or ‘Nanya’ just to reduce the hassle for everyone. Ordinarily, Ifu is my nickname, however, nobody really calls me that and I am not very familiar with it. There would be moments people would refer to me as Ifu and I wouldn’t realise it. After some time, I realised that I was being unfair to myself by making it easier for people who don’t even understand the value my name holds. So, I made a conscious effort to tell people the correct pronunciation of my full name. However, I don’t know if that made things better or worse. Most people made the effort to get my name right, but some people really couldn’t be bothered. 

I had this one teacher; she was a regular when it came to saying my name wrong. Week after week I would correct her, but as a new week arrived, she’d still managed to call me ‘Ifuna’. It had been 2 years as a student, and nearly a year as hers and she still couldn’t get my name right. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was intentional, if she simply couldn’t be bothered to say it correctly. My Afro-Caribbean friends and I would joke about the way people would butcher our names, but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a deeper explanation for it. Perhaps the fact that someone has an African name gives people the impression that the name must be heavily intonated. If I came from America with the same name, would people still have an issue pronouncing it? To be fair some names are more intonated than others, but that isn’t the point. The effort makes all the difference, it shows the respect you have for people and their culture. If it is new to you, you probably won’t get it on the first go and no one is expecting you to, however, you try again. The solution is not calling me whatever works for you or asking for a short version because you are devaluing the name.

My name is Ifunanya (/i:fu:na:ŋjæ/) and it means love, I didn’t always like it and it was definitely a long road to loving it.  

However, I love it.

It is a part of my identity, and the fact that I ever thought my own name was a hassle is sad. That being said, I will not be changing, shortening or ‘beautifying’ it for anyone ever again. If the whole world can comfortably say ‘Ansel Elgort’ then Ifunanya certainly can’t be that hard.