Stupid in America
When I named my baby Artemis Esther, I expected to have to answer a few questions.
For example, “Did your husband mind giving your baby a Greek name?” To which I would answer cheerfully, “Actually, Artemis was also the name of a famous Persian woman, an admiral in Xerxes’ navy, described in Herodotus as being exceptionally intelligent and brave. It means ’speaker of the truth’ in old Iranian. So it’s really a Persian and western name.”
Or perhaps, “Didn’t you think it might be too strong a name, the goddess of fertility?” To which I would reply, “I’m sure she will grow into it in her own way.”
Or maybe, “It’s so unusual- won’t she be teased?” To which I would reply, “There are lots of unusual names nowadays. We wanted a strong, meaningful name, not something average.”
Even, if, perchance, I were to run into a Iranophile, “What is it with the women of Xerxes?”. To which I would reply, “It was just a happy coincidence- my mother’s middle name is Esther.”
I didn’t expect:
“Arte-what?”
“Oh, how old is he?”
“Armistice?”
“Isn’t that a man’s name?”
“How do you spell that?”
One lady at the pediatrician’s couldn’t even read it. “Ar… ar… ar…” Just imagine the trouble she’d have with the word “phonetic”. “Artemis,” I completed, unable to completely mask my disgust.
I first learned about Greek deities in the seventh grade. I realize that I was more interested in classics than the average pupil (I eventually minored in classics), but we did have to memorize the gods and goddesses so you’d think it would be vaguely familiar to most people. 40% of the population is supposed to have a college degree- did none of these people study Western civilization? Plato? Herodotus? Plutarch? Nothing???
There is not a single male historical figure named Artemis. Some people in the United States may have taken this up as a man’s name, and I can understand that if it was an educated choice (fertility and hunting being equally masculine and feminine), but I refuse to accept that the name can be turned into a man’s name just like that. In popular works of art, whenever a man is named Artemis, the original goddess is referred to and it is explained how it is that a man came to have a woman’s name.
It got to the point that when I was in The Body Shop and a young sales assistant came up to me and asked whether that wasn’t the god with the wings on his feet, I was actually impressed. “That was Hermes, and Artemis is the goddess of fertility, hunting, midwives, and so on, but you’re close,” I replied. I didn’t even bother with the Persian Artemis for whom she is really named. I didn’t want to confuse or discourage someone who was so nearly on the right track. As it was I think she thought I said the god with winged sandals was named Herpes, because she blushed.
Artemis is still a name in use in the Persian community, and is common enough in Greece. All the Persians and Europeans I spoke to- especially the French and Italians- thought it sounded like a lovely woman’s name.
It was never my intention to give my daughter a name that nobody had ever heard of, or that sounded like a man’s name, or that sounded foreign. I thought I was giving her a name that appears in the Bible, Herodotus, and countless plays, articles, movies, games and stories, the name of one of the great woman heroes in Persia and a quintessentially feminine goddess, an Indo-European name that would be at least as recognizeable as Athena or Demeter.
But it just goes to show that you can never underestimate how poorly educated most Americans are.
Almost forgot- some shout-outs to deserving blogs:
A Nomad’s Life, soon to join our blogroll as she moves to Senegal with the Peace Corps;
Pillage, Piracy and Other Fun Stuff which doesn’t name this blog but refers to our blogroll- good enough for me, thanks guys;
New Eurasia, a thoughtful blog on Eurasia, which congratulated me on the birth of my daughter- how sweet!
War in Context which we are proud to be associated with;
Language Lessons- an interesting blog that promises hundreds of linguistic tidbits and which has a worthly list of expats connected by some language to the author;
The Salon, blogging from Africa on important issues;
Safrang, an Afghan blog that doesn’t feature here because the author is not working on humanitarian or development issues in a poor country- but that does not mean we do not think Safrang is a wonderful Afghanistan blog. Go check it out.
Thanks to all who link to me and thus, all the other bloggers in the humanitarian sphere.
- Uncategorized | Time: 20.0.57 (UTC+8)
If it helps, my real non-Victorian name is similarly difficult. Since childhood, I’ve never had anyone spell my name correclty much less say it correctly the first time. It’s not only unusual, it’s not spelled the usual way. But ah well, it just makes one that much more unique.
Artemis is a wonderful name. I’m sure she’ll love it!
Comment by Chirol — 02.12.2006 @ 21.0.08
come now, elizabeth, you cannot be surprised at this! greek mythology is all very well but it is a niche subject and it’s fine not knowing about the minor ones (and Artemis is minor). I couldn’t have told you who Artemis was, beyond the fact of her existence in the Greek pantheon, and having read your post two minutes ago I still couldn’t tell you. Incidentally, finally got back to Scotland this week…
Comment by whisky — 02.12.2006 @ 23.0.04
Now how to say this so it doesn’t sound critical…
When things don’t pan out the way we expected, we all tend to get somewhat upset or irate. And then it’s always the other person’s fault that our wonderful intentions were thwarted. i.e. We find ourselves fuming “Americans are stupid!” When oftentimes we could with equal justice be kicking ourselves and saying: “How the heck did I not foresee *that*?”
As someone that has an unusual ethnic name, all I can say is that explaining to people how to say it, and how to spell it comes with the territory. And also accepting that people cannot necessarily tell my sex from my name, and sometimes if they happen to know similar sounding female names, they might jump to the wrong conclusion.
But none of that is a big deal. Artemis will have a little more explaining to do than if she was Anna, that’s all.
Btw… I believe there are popular children’s books about a character called Artemis Fowl. A boy, I think.
Yep, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl_II
Anyway… Congratulations on the birth of your child!
Comment by Torchwolf — 03.12.2006 @ 01.0.12
Brendan- Good to hear from you and happy you made it back to Scotland. Artemis is a major goddess- sister of Apollo and figuring in a number of stories. I don’t expect people to know who she is, just to have had a vague idea of the gods and goddesses.
Torchwolf- thanks for the psychological exigesis. I didn’t come to the conclusion that Americans are stupid (not all, anyway) and I certainly am not going to kick myself for not assuming that the vast majority of people do not know a (major) goddess from the canon of Western humanities…
The children’s books are about a boy, I know, but he is teased for having a girl’s name and the goddess is referred to in them, so anyone who has properly read the books would know it’s a woman’s name.
Comment by Administrator — 03.12.2006 @ 04.0.56
Off topic a bit, but my boyfriend and I went as Circe and a pig for halloween. Of course, no one knew what the hell we were.
I had a Greek friend in elementary school named Artemis, and at the time, I thought she was the coolest person for that name. The teacher took the time to tell us about her name’s (Greek) mythological roots, and I was so jealous for not being named after a diety. I might have even asked my parents if I could change my name.
It’s not the ignorance that’s frustrating for me- it’s how one manages their ignorance. Instead of saying “Areti-what?,” wouldn’t “I”m sorry, could you spell that? I’m not familiar with that name.” be more appropriate?
Comment by Shannon — 03.12.2006 @ 17.0.37
“it’s how one manages their ignorance”
Yeah, how one deals with an unfamiliar thing says a lot about how one was raised.
I’m assuming you were Circe?
Comment by Administrator — 04.12.2006 @ 04.0.11
Don’t worry. All the adults told me that my son would be teased by the kids for his name, but it was only the adults that had a problem with it. The kids all think his name is cool.
Our son is named after a certain mythical bird, but most people assume that we named him after a city.
My son LOVES his name! So don’t worry.
And I think Artemis is beautiful.
I was participating in NaNoWriMo this month, and I had a character named Artemis.
Comment by Sylvana — 07.12.2006 @ 03.0.37
Don’t worry - you did give her a very special name - but
Artemis will have a lot of character and will learn to deal with her name. She will be a very unique individual with a special destiny.
And anyway - it is to be expected that she won’t hang around the Art and Miss types. More likely, she will have friends who will dig her because of how so very special she is.
Comment by beaver — 07.12.2006 @ 23.0.49
They refuse to address black disfavor on a macro level. … BLAH BLAH BLAH… compliance is a way to incurr evil on otherwise very good people (if you understand the demographic), people who normally would get a great amount of time, and it ensurs their stay is minimized if and when they do go.
Comment by "Black people have to try harder, be better than everyone else." — 08.12.2006 @ 05.0.09
Speaker of the truth - i like that.
I had my moments of identity crisis and wished for a more mainstream name…but like all identity crises, it goes. Now I bear my name proudly and happily.
Comment by Asiyah — 08.12.2006 @ 15.0.09
about comment no. 9 : this is the new spam. I got it (but comments are moderated on my blog), Juliana had one too.
Spammers must die.
Comment by Beaver — 09.12.2006 @ 19.0.09
Beaver, Sy, Asiyah- thanks for your encouragement. It is SO COOL that you had a character named Artemis, Sy- I met a woman in the bank who knew the name. She was Diana and sweetly said “Well, I guess we’ll have to share the moon with her, then.”
Black in America- I would ask that you read George Orwell’s different works on the English language, re-write your spam according to his general advice, and then re-submit it. Also if you could make it relevant to the post.
Comment by Administrator — 09.12.2006 @ 20.0.04
Well, I think Artemis is a beautiful name, although I was previously unaware of its Persian roots. I suppose it is not surprising, however, in light of the ancient rivalry between the Persians and the Greeks.
Comment by Bill Day — 10.12.2006 @ 05.0.32
Bill- Nobody knows the ethnicity of the “Persian” Artemis (called Artemisia in Herodotus) but it seems to be a very ancient Indo-European name shared by Scythians, Greeks, Persians, and many others. THanks for commenting.
Comment by Administrator — 10.12.2006 @ 18.0.23
Respectfully, while many Americans may be ignorant, your argument is not convincing.
First, is knowledge of the names of mythological Greek figures a reliable indicator of ignorance, intelligence, or education? Knowledge of Greek deities is not a prerequisite for being well educated or, generally, for obtaining a university degree anywhere in the world, except maybe Greece. Although one would hope someone with a degree from a liberal arts university would have at least a passing knowledge of Greek democracy, philosophy, and thought as it relates to modern Western civilization and thought.
Second, Artemus (no matter what the derivation) is a guy’s name in the States, albeit an old fashioned one. So if someone hears you say the name Artemis, then maybe you can forgive them for thinking you are saying Artemus and assuming she is a he.
Third, if the parents of the “Persian” Artemisia had had a boy, what would they have named him? We will never know, but there are many languages where adding or dropping vowels - particularly an “a” - at the end strongly indicates male or female. I think modern Persian is one of these. To illustrate, Hamida is a woman, Hamid a guy; Firuz, man; Firuza, woman; Claudia, woman; Claude, probably a guy; Alexander, Alexandra…. Perhaps “well educated” people (by your apparent standard) would recognize this.
Comment by Loki — 12.12.2006 @ 14.0.28
Hello - I’ve been reading your blog in preparation for my own plunge into development work. I’m now a month into a new job in Sierra Leone, and also into my blog. In March, I’ll head to another development oriented job in East Timor, and will continue the blog there. Thanks for your words and insight.
Comment by FtJ — 19.12.2006 @ 12.0.58
*on a known melody*
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas….. and a happy new year !
*clap clap clap*
*Beaver bows deeply*
Comment by Beaver — 25.12.2006 @ 18.0.37
Well at least you chose a REAL name. Not a couple of consonants and a vowel taped together. Did you know in Norway your name has to be aproved by a commitee before you bestow it upon your child? Keeps riff-raff like Sha na na..and Takalika k’bongobongo OUT of the public schools….
Comment by haji 0 matic — 27.12.2006 @ 06.0.10
Armistice? Somebody thought that you had named your sweet girl ‘Armistice’? Like she was the deal that sealed peace between you and your warring husband? Well, I guess some things in life have just got to get a laugh.
I read your previous post about hospitality in Afghanistan with interest. I’ve been here for a year and have had many fewer invitations than I did previously in Syria and Palestine. But I see so many factors contributing to that. For one the security situation here is completely different, which leads folks like me to live bizarely isolated lives. I don’t like it, but I’ll lose my job if I don’t go with it.
When I do break the rules, drive in the private car of an Afghan colleague and enjoy their hospitality in their non-security compliant homes I have always felt warmly welcomed.
My blog is www.fridaworld.blogspot.com and I think I qualify as a humanitarian worker (human rights in the West of Afghanistan).
Comment by Frida — 29.12.2006 @ 04.0.16
Eid Mubarak!
Comment by Asiyah — 31.12.2006 @ 01.0.55
Great BLOG! I really enjoyed reading it. I have also lived and workd in Afghanistan for almost 4 years. From 2002 to 2005; Please visit my blog as well. Cheers!
Comment by Tajikzone — 09.01.2007 @ 11.0.03
Hello to FtJ, Frida, and Tajikzone! Great to hear from you all- your links are coming soon.
To all others- sorry for the long delay, merry Christmas, Eidaton muborak, happy 2007, and thanks foor reading.
Comment by Administrator — 10.01.2007 @ 08.0.13
::sighs:: The stupidity in America is rampant and regrettable. If it’s any consolation, I recognized the name as that of the Greek Goddess but knew it was famous for other things elsewhere (and I’m American). I think it’s a beautiful name for a child and one that they can treasure for its rarity as they get older as opposed to a name like mine which is found seemingly everywhere I go (”Chii” is a pen name).
Comment by Chii Maene — 09.01.2009 @ 16.0.29