My name is Hamzeh. A six letter word, H-A-M-Z-E-H, and nothing else. In English my name means the Heart of the Lion. It portrays strength, speed, and confidence, but that doesn’t matter as it, sadly, is one of the hardest names to pronounce.

My parents were going to name me either Jadd, which would’ve been great, or Hamzeh. It was a tough decision between them but in the end Hamzeh won. To compromise they made Jadd my middle name. It was weird as no one in my family had middle names besides my sisters and I. Traditionally my middle name should’ve been my father’s name, his father's, and so on, but they decided to give me a real middle name.
   

My name is hard to pronounce, it’s one of the hardest things for any non-arab speaker to say. Try it. Since my name took practice to learn, and sometime no amount of practice could help, I’ve been stuck with it in school, always hearing my name mispronounced. Now, truly, it never bothered me, but watching teachers trying to pronounce my name was always an amusement.
   

I spent the first week of every school year teaching teachers how to say my name, and still have to. I’ve always been the first name to be called, so I always correct my teachers when they get that look.

By the end of the day I don’t care how you pronounce my name, as long as you can partially say it. My friends each have their own way of saying it. It doesn’t bother me, as long as you get it close and don’t intentionally say it wrong.