Do you have an unusual name?

I don’t. Not now at least. My name is Amy. Quite common here on the rock, but in the 80s, when I was still living in cold, grey Belgium, my name was considered quite unusual. Throughout primary and secondary school it was butchered into a series of horrible-sounding variants, both in spoken and written language. In Italy my friends found it virtually impossible to write and pronounce my name, so over there I’m still known as Emi. I even have a Facebook friend who writes to me using Emi. Does she realise my actual name is right there, above her message? At university – I went to a business school that attracted quite a few foreign students – things got a little better, but my name wasn’t spelled and pronounced 100% correctly until I moved to the rock. Amen.

When I translate texts I ALWAYS check and double-check names. To me the source text is not a holy-grail document that shouldn’t be altered. If there’s a mistake in it, I’ll correct it and let the client know. Isn’t that only logical? Unfortunately I’ve come to realise that’s not standard practice. In my six years as a proofreader I’ve rarely come across a text in which errors were corrected. I’ve worked with some of the best translators on the market, who can produce top-notch translations at the speed of light, but even they refuse to make that small effort and google proper names.

It’s a touchy subject for me, probably because it defined my childhood. I’ve always been so incredibly proud of my name. I love the fact that it’s international, short and sweet. It means “the beloved” – can it get any better than that? When I translate or proofread a text I always keep in mind that I would be horrified to see my name misspelled in an article or on a website. It would hurt my pride. It would strip me of my identity.

Next time you’re writing, translating or correcting a text please, please, please think of little Emi and put a smile back on her face!