My Name

My name is Ali in class and pretty much to everybody I know. I never really ever mention my original name and my name is often out of my mind. I feel that Ali is a good name and it is quite unique. I often have to correct people in pronouncing my name and am really proud of how it sounds. I really like that not many people have my name and often find myself the only one in the environment with this name. Everybody in my family had a Vietnamese name since everyone was born in Vietnam. It seems that somehow nicknames were developed in our childhood.
The name Ali originally started out as a nickname after a famous actress named Ali McGraw. She starred in the movie Love Story and my parents fell in love with that movie. The name stuck and has been used to this day.
I also have heard of another story from where my nickname originated. I got it from my aunt who liked to have an ee sound at the end of my name. In the case of my older brother, his name is Danny, which has the ee sound at the end of his name. So they came of with the Ali because they like how it sounds.
My brother on the other hand believed that my nickname was made up by my uncle. My uncle apparently named me after Mohammed Ali, a guy by the way. He teases me that it is after a guy and Ali is pronounced differently for his name. So my brother calls me with a different name that nobody else really calls me.
Personally, I think it is the first story that I mentioned which I believe where my name came from. My parents are also very adamant on this being the truthful story.

So my real name is Nguyen Thi Dan Ha. Usually in Vietnamese we start our name with our last name first and then continue from the middle to first. Last name: Nguyen, Middle: Thi , First: Dan Ha. Another particular thing about my Vietnamese name is that it has four words. Usually a Vietnamese a girl is named with four words and a guy is named with three words. This establishes a name that has value and respect.
I did not learn this until high school and I find that an interesting fact. The reason I didn’t realize this fact earlier was because I didn’t notice another part of my name for the longest time, Thi. I didn’t realize that this was a part of my name until I had to apply for my driver’s license and my US citizenship certificate had three words for my middle name. By the way, my original first name (my Vietnamese name) became my middle name and my nickname became my first name in America.
So my Vietnamese name means the time when the sun is setting and you see the multiple hues of the sky setting. It is very poetic in Vietnamese with its underlying meanings that I don’t understand since I haven’t lived in Vietnam for most of my life. So when I think about my Vietnamese name, I think it is a shame that I don’t use it. It is just that I like my nickname too and it is confusing to have multiple names.