i don’t even know if this is the right place to vent, but i really need to get this off my chest.
my name is oumaima. its an arabic girls name, pretty common in north africa and it roughly means something like “young mother” or “protector.” the thing is, i was born and raised in europe and its been exhausting.
as a kid i constantly got bullied for my name. people always mispronounced it, misspelled it, or just made it into a joke. even now, it still happens all the time. im always correcting people, repeating myself, explaining it it just gets tiring.
i’ve thought about going by a nickname, but anything you can make out of my name just sounds ridiculous to me, so that doesn’t really feel like an option either. on top of that i hate how long it is. all my siblings have short, simple names, and mine just feels so extra.
at one point i seriously considered legally changing it, because it’s actually affected me mentally over the years. but because of my religion, that’s not really something i can do.
i don’t know. i just feel stuck with something thats caused me a lot of stress, and i wish i felt differently about it.
has anyone else felt this way about their name? how do you deal with it?
edit: i just read the rules i hope my post doesnt break any . im not suggesting or asking if its an ugly name, just asking how and if other people are dealing with this too because its something thats constantly on my mind