The importance of your name

My child and I were at the park. She made friends with a little girl and they were playing. Every few minutes the girl (6) would ask my daughter to repeat her name. My daughters name is Kalihna (Ka-lee-nah). After a few time the girl finally said “Can I just call you Kate? I can’t remember your name”. To which I answered no- her name is Kalihna, I am sure you can remember it.

What do you all make of this? I am a teacher and I see it often with Chinese students coming to my school and being given white names. I always encouraged my students to be proud of their names and that it isn’t difficult for anyone to just learn someone’s name- that is who they are!

I personally felt frustrated as this is not the first time my someone mispronounces her name and she doesn’t correct them (she is 5 so I know she will have to grow into that but I want to encourage her to be proud of her name and teach others to respect it).