I can still remember when I was a child in having Helen as my first name which was easy to pronounce but when it came to my family name of: Tauau, it got mangled in it's pronunciation by non Pasifika/Maori teachers and I would cringe particularly at the beginning of the year when they would call out our names for new classes.
That's changed somewhat in that I've added the glottal stop to make it easier for non-Pasifika/Maori people to say it correctly and wouldn't change my name to fit into other people's perspectives.
I've known of woman who have changed their names or taken on European surnames in wanting to get rid of their Pasifika/Maori family names in being ashamed of them. It's the racism behind it which has caused such drastic measures for some because it made them feel belittled in having a 'foreign' Pasifika or Maori name.
It's this form of racism which is often not discussed in PC environments but one in which I am proud to keep my Samoan names and whenever people get it wrong in various forums, I will correctly pronounce it for them in knowing who I am and what these names stand for.
Our children shouldn't have to continue going through these mispronunciations and feeling inadequate to address so I most firmly take a position to confidently correct the mispronunciation and then to continue on with life because it's not my problem it's the mispronunciator's....
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