Sorry, That’s now how you say my name.

You are pronouncing my Asian name incorrectly — but that happens to be my fault

Take a look at my name for a second — “Nikhil Vootkur.” If you’re alone, feel free to say it out loud and if you aren’t, say it in your head. I can almost guarantee that you said (in air quotes) it wrong. But, before you worry, that’s not your fault — It’s mine.

I was born in 2002 to two Indian immigrants. When I was born, they named me Nikhil, which Initially derived from Sanskrit, means “entire”, “universal”, “comprehensive”, or “complete.” But I have learned not-so-recently, that if I say my name to an Indian the way I pronounce it to my friends and teachers at school or away from , the otherwise poetic meaning of my name would be reduced to absolutely nothing. So why do I mispronounce and alter my name? It’s a subtle, simple form of what many refer to as code-switching. My personal form of code switching has created two fun alter egos which have, over time, consumed and overtaken my Asian identity, contorting syllables and phonics in order to conform to a western-dominant culture.

Nik-eel is the first, and is probably what you know me or other “Nikhil”s in your life as. For me, this cover formed at the age of 4, when I came home from school and proudly told my parents I was now “Nik-Eel.” My…