Name

What's in the name? that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet;
-shakespeare, romeo and juliet

Or so I thought.

My name doesn't have any particular meaning.
At least that's the information I got from my dad.

I have always been very proud about it though. While this excluded me during my childhood from my friends' brag-fest on whose name has the greatest meaning, I always take comfort in thinking that this unique name of mine gives me the freedom to be whatever I want to be. It lets me define the meaning of the name itself, rather than having it defines who I am supposed to be.

My last name isn't inherited from my family name either, and each of us in our family, has different last names.

I'm very proud of it too. I think it's the best thing you can give to the next generation. No family name, no burdening name. Just let them be whatever they want

Last Eid'ul Adha this belief is a bit shaken though.

As I made new acquaintances to other muslimah around me, I noticed how proud they were when they introduced their name: Fatima, Khadijah, ...

And for the first time I felt a bit inferior...
for not having such pretty names that defines my Islam identity...

Then few days ago I had a brief encounter with a fellow Muslim student that I just met.

After a bit of chitchat he asked for my name. I immediately told him my name while asking for his name too.

He seemed confused though, and asked again for my name.
I just repeated my answer since maybe he couldn't get it.

Still seemed confused, finally he asked: what's your full name?
Although I found it odd, I finally told him both my first name and last name.

A look of relief then shown in his face after hearing my last name.
And he explained he kept on asking it since he knows I must be a muslim, and that he, too, is a muslim, from Bangladesh, before then mentioning his name proudly.

His name means the praiseworthy God's witness in Arabic.

So, ...apparently in some community people do expect you to have a muslim name if you're a Muslim.


ps. I feel touched though. I'm reminded: I do have muslim identity in my last name.
The holy month in Islam on which I was born. And I'm super proud of it :)