What's in a Name?

During our introductory Slovak language course in Bratislava, I introduced myself as Liz but our teacher proceeded to call me Liza so that my name could change correctly with Slovak grammar. (See – all women’s names end in vowels and then they change with different situations. I.E. This is Liza. Do you know Lizu? Are you with Lizou? This is a card from Lizy.) Thus, when I got to my placement, I introduced myself saying I could be called Liz or Liza.

When you know someone better or want to use a more affectionate version of a name (kind of like saying Billy instead of Bill) you can add a ka or a čka to the end of a girl’s name. After getting to know me, some of my coworkers started to use a more familiar version of my name by calling me Lizička. That quickly turned into Lyžička, which is Slovak for “Little Spoon”. A few weeks later, at volleyball, a guy on my team called me Lizatka, which literally means “Lollipops”.

The newest addition to my name collection comes from my 1 and a half year old host sister, Halina. She is quickly picking up new words, both in Slovak and English. Some of her favorite words include daj! (give!), Monte (the brand of her favorite pudding), iced tea (which surprisingly is a "Slovak" word), and now bye and okay thanks to me. However, she doesn’t always use these words in their correct sense and apparently Halina thinks my name is “Bye”. Every time I come home, she comes running around the corner screaming Bye Bye Bye!

So what’s in a name? Well – here - affection, humor, and even a little misunderstanding, but as I’m crossing the street, wandering through the community center or even sitting in my room – the call of my name always brings a smile to my face, whether I’m a Liz, a Liza, a little spoon, a lollipop or even a goodbye.