The first time I understood that names could hold two worlds was not by changing mine, but by hearing it differently. As a Pakistani child growing up in Canada, I learned early that my name could sound different depending on who was saying it. My name is simple and deeply familiar in my family. Yet in school and, later, in professional spaces, I became accustomed to the anglicized pronunciation.

Over time, I introduced myself that way at work, and still do, because it became my new normal. At home, my name still sounds like me.

Many young children, especially newcomer and racialized children, face similar circumstances from the earliest grades and learn to make this same quiet adjustment long before they can explain what they are giving up.

It is the everyday morning greetings, language expectations and reactions to food or clothing that teach children who they can be at school.

Research shows name mispronunciations, alterations or avoidances are not trivial: Name-based microaggressions in early schooling disrupt identity and belonging and produce identity shame, and this is often initiated or normalized by educators themselves.

Microaggressions are the everyday, subtle, often unintentional comments or actions that communicate bias toward marginalized groups. Notably, as Kevin Nadal, a psychologist who has studied microaggression, notes, the “micro” does not mean the impact is small — and these moments, especially as they accumulate, can land hard on the people receiving them.

When an educator stumbles........

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