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A Little Accent
A Little Accent
By Andrea Grandisson
My name has always been a little stressful for me ever since I can remember, whenever I would have to introduce myself, I could feel my heart beat increasing slowly and my palms getting sweatier. My family is originally from the cold land of French Canada and my parents dubbed me Andréa Évelyne Grandisson. Double accent. Let me tell you something about this double accent. It confuses people - a lot. Especially when you add in that it’s also really supposed to be said in French. To my friends, it sounds almost like a sneeze when my mom says it to their orielles qui parlent pas le Francais . When those friends would try to repeat it, it felt as if it was an insult almost like they weren’t trying to make it sound good.
To make matters worse, the first time I googled my name, I saw that it meant manly or brave which for a 7 year old is extremely traumatizing (Riley). To add to this trauma, on my family trip to Italy (this was during the time when Coca Cola bottles had everyone’s name on it) I saw my name on a red bottle and I was over the moon! Come to find out, Andrea is an extremely common man’s name over there. Perfect. Great. Awesome.
Struggling over my name was a quiet battle I had with myself for years and once I reached my new high school I decided that I would no longer write the accent on my e. Now, about 5 years later, I regret doing this. My name is my connection to my extended family, my grandparents and my parents. My parents' choice to pick a French name is what has kept me connected to the French language. When I was told to search for my name, Andréa, and its popularity on the Social Security Network glitched and it spluttered out that it did not recognize a symbol in my name (“Popular Baby”). This did not come as a surprise. I have never met anyone who spells it with my accent. However I, surprisingly, have grown to love that about my identity. Whenever roll call is announced, I no longer clench in fear of my name being mispronounced, instead, I lift my chin and accept any pronunciation that comes my way, because now I understand accents will always confuse people and that’s ok! My name becomes a little french lesson and I am glad I can share that with people who are interested. I love that my name is a little different, and that I can count the amount of people I've met with the same name on one hand. I love how my family says my name. I love that my name suits me. I love that after I write my name, I have to go back and add just one more mark.
Works Cited
“Popular Baby Names.” Popularity of Name Andrea, Social Security, www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi. Accessed 10 Feb. 2024.
Riley, L. “Andrea Name Meaning: Origins and Significance.” Name Of The Year, 10 Sept. 2023, www.nameoftheyear.com/andrea-name-meaning/.
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