Hattie isn't a common name anywhere, except maybe in US Southern history. And while I've always liked my name for its old family ties (I am named after my great grandmother) and its uniqueness (there are really never any "Hatties" to confuse me with), it still poses challenges. Introductions, especially, are problematic. In the States I have gotten everything from Patti to Katie to Haiti. In Tamil Nadu no one could figure out why, as a girl, I was given such a masculine name. My pronunciation of Hattie sounded, to them, like Harry. And I have found, like everywhere else, my name causes confusion in Nepal. But here, even anticipating that confusion, I can't help but smile before every introduction. The pronunciation of Hattie is almost identical to the Nepali pronunciation of Hathi, which just happens to mean elephant.
Though I cannot chalk it up to more than a grand coincidence, the fact that I happen to share the name of this awesome animal (the animal that just happens to be my favorite) feels a bit like something else. It feels like a small sign that things do have a funny way of working out. Which, true or not, is a nice feeling to have.
Still, I have taken to going by "Eliza Miss" in the classroom. I thought that "Elephant Miss" would provide my fifth graders with just too much ammunition.
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