Names are incredibly important. It’s how the world identifies us. It’s how we move through society, and it’s often one of the first things a stranger knows about us. We have to hear it all day every day, and we have to sign it on every document. But more than just a tool of social organization, names give us a connection to our family and our culture. Many names are passed down through families, giving a lineage of ancestors some common ground. They also might mean something in our language or in our culture’s history. But even if they don’t, they’re at the very least given to us by someone we love for some reason. It’s ours to keep, it’s ours to change, and it’s ours to insist that others learn. 

That’s why it’s so disrespectful when someone refuses to get your name right. Maybe it’s ‘difficult’ for them to say, but anything is possible.