All about my names.

When I was writing the introduction on my about page, I realised that I spent too long trying to explain the simplest thing about myself, my name. Therefore, my first blog is going to be about my names!

It is difficult to introduce myself for couples of reasons. First, people know me by different names, depending on where and when they met me. Second, all my names have meaning and stories that are fun to tell. And third, my original names are pretty unique and hard to pronounce.

Let me start with my real, legal name. My first name is Rossatorn (Rot-sa-torn), which means charming in Thai. Because I was born on Monday, traditionally, it is believed that my real name cannot have any vowels. The tradition said that it will bring bad luck and you will not be loved by people around you. Therefore, Rossatorn does not have any vowels when you spell it in Thai. Rossatorn is made by four letters in the Thai alphabet (รสธร).

Of course, this is a belief. It is a tradition that many Thai parents follow. However, I like my name. I was always surrounded by lots of love from friends and family :)

My last name is Aksharanugraha (Ak-sa-ra-nu-groah). The ending part is the tricky one. The graha. I think because the last name is more than 100 years old, this was probably the best translation at that time.

Now, most Thai people also have a nickname. Normally, our real name is longer and more complicated to pronounce than our nickname. Of course, this depends on each family's preference. My nickname is Mafan (Ma-fan). My family, my relatives, all my friends from Thailand, and all my international friends that I met before mid-2022 would know me as Mafan.

Mafan is the name of a native big tree. This tree also produce fruits that also called Mafan. Mafan's tree and its produces are hard to find. Only local people would eat the fruits and 99% of Thail people haven't tried this native fruit before. You need to go into the forest or travel to the Northern part of Thailand during a rainy season. I also have never seen it before.

Mafan is a very rare name even for Thai people. Everyone has the problem pronouncing it or making sense of the name when they hear it for the first time. It is definitely not a common nickname. It is so rare that some people are convinced that I made up my name and that a fruit name Mafan does not exist... It does.

So where did Rosa come from? Rosa (Ro-sa) is short from my real name, Rossatorn. Rosa first happened when I was living in Madrid, Spain in 2014. The host family that I was staying with at the time and my Spanish teachers decided to call me Rosa. I liked the name. Rosa means rose and pink in Spanish. I felt cute and belong to the country at the time.

I started introducing myself as Rosa again when I moved to Melbourne, Australia in 2022. Particularly, when I was applying for a job. My friend recommended that Rossatorn Aksharanugraha could be difficult for any recruiters or HR department to pronounce and that I should accomodate the recruiters by making my name easier to pronounce. I agreed and changed my CVs to Rosa Aksharanugraha. I started introducing myself as Rosa after that as well. I love this name as it is easy for everyone to say and remember.

Please call me by the name I introduced myself to you by. For all my new friends who are reading this blog and getting to know me for the first time, you can pick a name you like!