I immigrated to the United States at the age of seven, and I made it my personal goal to assimilate into that culture. Yet, the one thing that always set me apart, something I could never change, was my name. At that age, I wanted a more common name that fit better into American culture. 

Throughout school, usually when it was the first week of school or when there was a substitute teacher, I waited for that abrupt pause when they read through the attendance list. There were a lot of “F-f-f-fs" and after that even more pauses. I didn’t understand why it was a difficult task to pronounce such a simple name. But, after years of school and consuming media, I realized that my name is not a common name here in America nor is it pronounced the same as in Arabic. 

I have grown up feeling lost between what seems like two different names: Farah and فَرَح, and thus two different identities; American and Middle Eastern. The constant mispronunciation of my name makes me upset. Mostly at myself for resenting the divide it creates within me. It has been difficult to balance between cultures, and I often find myself straying away from my Arab heritage.  

However, I am realizing that my struggle with my name has always been internal. I have met countless people who do not have English names, such as my best friend whose name is Warda, and they are still comfortable with their name. Being around her and other people who are able to confidently identify with multiple cultures allows me to be courageous enough to do the same. I am coming to terms with the fact that my name is not the problem—my perspective is. I thought that my name made me an outsider, but that is far from the truth. Everyone has their own unique name, but what makes it unique is how they choose to identify with it.  

Farah ( فَرَح ) is the name my parents chose for me, and I no longer want to change that. Instead, every day I try my best to live up to that name by bringing joy to the people around me the best that I can. Instead of seeing my name as a divide, I see it as the bridge that connects my two cultures and makes me who I am.   

Works Cited

Farah at the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, 26 Oct. 2024. 

“Farah Name Meaning, Origins & Popularity.” Forebears, 2014, forebears.io/forenames/farah. Accessed 09 Feb. 2025.  

Shaikh, Nida. “Farah Meaning, Origin, History, and Popularity.” Edited by Ritika Shah and Ghazia Shah, MomJunction, 7 May 2024, www.momjunction.com/baby-names/farah/. Accessed 09 Feb. 2025.