Race Equality Week: What’s in a name?

Research carried out by Race Equality Matters found that 73% of respondents from more than 100 organisations said they had their names mispronounced, often making them feel disrespected or that they didn’t belong. 

Taking the time to learn the correct pronunciation of someone’s name can make a real difference. Race Equality Matters have recently launched the My Name Is campaign, which aims to help tackle race inequality and encourage us all to pronounce people’s names correctly. 

We are signing up to the campaign and we’d like to encourage you to think about doing the same. You can add the phonetic spelling of your name to your email signature, and take the time to learn the correct pronunciation of your colleagues’ names. 

We spoke to Shahilla, Prospect’s Learning and Development Specialist, about why the My Name Is campaign could be a step towards real inclusion at work. 

Shahilla’s story 

We inherit our names from our parents, and our name is an integral part of our identity and sense of belonging. Names have rich history and meanings that may be important to us, our families or our culture, and we are all the richer for learning about them. 

As someone who was not born in the UK, but grew up here, I’ve always found that many people could not pronounce my name properly (given that is transliterated from Arabic to English but, not very well). 

People try to shorten my name, or worse still, convert it to an Anglicised version; usually ‘Sheila’, instead of taking just a few seconds to ask and learn how to say my name correctly, which was hurtful. I felt like my identity was being stripped from me and was being somehow ‘normalised’ to fit in with English culture. 

It did not make me feel like I belonged. Instead, it made me stand out and highlighted my differences in a negative way. Even though I am sure that was not the intention, it demonstrated a lack of awareness of how I would be made to feel.  

Of course, I was not at all accepting of this and made sure I corrected people. But not everyone will have the confidence to challenge or correct people, so it should be on all of us to be mindful of this. 

Given my own experience, I am always very conscious of getting other peoples’ names right. I think the best rule is, when in doubt, just ask! I believe this shows respect to your colleagues and makes the workplace more inclusive.  

The My Name Is campaign is a simple and effective way of making people feel more able to ask about your name and its pronunciation, that’s why I’ve added my phonetic spelling (Sha-hee-lah) to my email signature.

Race Equality Matters have created a new digital tool to help people find or develop the phonetic spelling of their name. You can use it to search a name, learn the phonetic spelling and then share it on your social media profiles or email signature. If you can’t find your name on the tool, there is an option to add it to their growing database.

For anyone wanting to find out more about the campaign and why it’s so important, I’d recommend having a read of Race Equality Matter’s guide. 

What we can all do 

• Be an ally and add the phonetic spelling of your name to your email signature. 
• Take the time to learn the correct pronunciation of your colleagues’ names. 
• Raise the campaign in your branch and get others involved.