No name is too difficult to pronounce.

 I recently read about a New Zealand girl of Maori origin being left hurt when staff at her day care shortened her name. Apparently, the educator found “Mahinarangi”, which means “Moon in the sky” to be too tough to pronounce and shortened it to 'Rangi'. Her mother explained Mahinarangi’s name is often mispronounced and mocked by her peers, leaving the young girl “embarrassed” and lacking the confidence to correct anyone.

I live in Mumbai and out here, we have people from all over India. Occasionally one encounters a name which is difficult to pronounce, but to be honest, I’ve never heard of someone shortening or changing someone else’s name because it was too hard to pronounce. Indians from the northern and western parts of India tend to have shorter names than those from the southern parts. Also, the languages prevalent in the south are different from languages spoken elsewhere in the country. Northerners find south Indian names to be tongue twisters, but I’ve never heard of an unilateral modification of someone else’s name. 

Having said that, I now put myself in the shoes of the staff at Maharangi’s daycare. Evidently, they did not make an effort to pronounce the name the way it is meant to be.  Did they intend to be offensive? Most probably not. Thoughtless and a tad lazy, maybe. Hopefully, this incident and the outcry that it generated will motivate folks to accept people, their names and backgrounds as they are, and to make an effort to be more respectful of different cultures.