I don’t usually answer these Writer’s Block questions that Livejournal does, but this one was made for me. All my life people have pronounced my name wrong. I usually get called Shanna or Shawna, although I’ve also been called Shannon, Sharon, and China.
My name is pronounced Shay-nah. It’s Yiddish and means beautiful, so I always joke that my first name combined with my middle name (Dawn) means “beautiful morning.” I was named after my dad Shane, and the writer Shana Alexander.
But I’ll usually still answer if you call me Shanna or Shawna. I’ll correct you twice and if you still pronounce it wrong after that, I’ll give up and grumble to myself about it. 😉 I knew my agent was perfect for me when the first time he called, he pronounced my name correctly without having to ask.
If you’re still not sure, you can hear me pronounce it in this video.
(I love my name now, but as a kid I wanted a name that everyone knew and could pronounce easily. I decided then that the perfect name for me was Jessica. But now, I really can’t see myself as anything other than Shana.)
I know exactly how you feel. My name is pronounced Jay-mah, but I’ve had Jamma, Jawma, Jamaica, Hama, Yama, etc. I also go by the three times you’re out rule. If, after correcting someone that many times, I sort of think maybe they’re not worth knowing or something :).
We rhyme! (Well, you rhyme with Jaina, anyway).
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