"He changed his name from Khalladjadjian to Johnson, but he couldn't change his ethnic identity -- his face is the map of Armenia," my father would chortle.
At Harvard, in the early 1960's we had the opposite experience -- we met an Armenian who wanted to add the 'ian' back to the end of his name and non-Armenians who wanted to do the same! (The 'ian's were often removed at Ellis Island by the immigration officers when Armenian immigrants officially entered the United States.)
All of us at the Harvard Radcliffe Armenian Club, even those who were 1/8 Armenian, had ian's at the ends of our already long names, all of us, that is, except for Robert. Soon after coming to Harvard, Robert went before a judge to have his name officially changed back to what it had been when his parents arrived on these shores. At court, the judge, astounded, questioned him: Are you sure that this is what you want to do? Everybody comes to my courtroom wanting to Americanize and shorten their names and you come in here wanting to lengthen your name by adding the 'ian'? Yes, I do! Robert answered. And from that day on, our friend Robert Djanadjan (later a Marshall Scholar), became Robert Djanadjanian -- Armenian, and proud of it!
And that was another story that my father loved to tell!
N.B. Names changed to protect the innocent!
what is in a name? at least one day of my life spelling it!
ReplyDeletehow many times have I been asked, what kind of name is that? Or, where are you from? Answer: Boston, no, but i mean before that? well, you mean where are my parents from? ya, well they are from what was Armenia. Was? ya, it got lost in a volcanic eruption. oh, you mean it was from the Pacific? you are kidding me, right? it is really italian, and you are being clever by masking your italian heritage, Mt. Vesuvias and all that. no, but you are getting closer. Armenia, oh, than, it can't be one of those caribbean islands we never hear about? that is right and wrong. we never hear about it, and it is not a caribbean island. i had a german friend back in the 'sixties, met him on the day of the election of Richard Nixon. we read poetry together, from a slim volume of a minnesota poet, whose name escapes me. Dietrich was a grad student at MIT and because he was German, and gregarious, we became immediate friends, which led us to reading that book of poetry seated under the garish lighting at the Bick. it was there i discovered a way to save much time and frustration in my life over the questions that always arose over my name. Dietrich had discovered a genetic trait found in most of the americans he met, referring mostly to townies, i am sure,(sic),and had devised a plan of defence. he had stapled under various pieces of his clothing,e.g., his collar, inside his breast pocket, answers to the questions that were always the same from billiard ball meetings with those curious about his origin, school he was attending, what he was majoring in, or, now that he was in grad school, what his 'field' was, etc. i watched him manage these encounters by flicking parts of his clothing over which had sewn to them the answers to the same questions asked over and over again, as the liturgy of meetings on these shores that were foreign to him. when in the throes of turning parts of his clothing inside out, a half smile, not wicked, smug, or arrogant, just bemused, creased his face. Hmmm... i had tailors in my family, perhaps they could, naw, they would never keep it secret, so I got as far as considering it, and nothing more. i just continued, in my pedestrian manner, and responded not as a mute, nor as a mime, but as one who discovered what was in a name, my name, over and over again.
How does Sykesian sound?
ReplyDeleteSykian?
Syian?
Syrian?
Oh, the Kessabtsis would be proud!
Every Armenian family has at least one member with a story like this!
ReplyDeleteMy great-uncle Arpiar Churukian came to this country in the early 20th C ad had to answer the question "What is your surname?"
He thought he was being asked "What is your father's name?" which is how individuals were identified in the Middle East before WWI.
"Missak!" he blurted. And from that day forth, he and his scions were known as Missakian, while Arpiar's brothers were all documented as Churukian.
It wasn't until decades later that one of Arpiar's sons changed him name from Missakian back to Churukian.
What's in a name...
My father doesn't share the same surname as his blood-brothers, and even that name was a nickname given a great great grandfather of mine. Originally, our (bloodline) clan was Zurnajian -- a musician! But Great Great Grandpa was a devote Christian and was given the nickname Abdullah (servant of God).
This was Armenicized to Abdulian and viola!
PS: Sorry for the typos!
ReplyDelete