Hi, my name is DARIA aka Dare-ia, Dar-ia, Dahr-ia

Daria as in I dare you to remember my name.

Dar-ia as in rhymes with car (ia) and is the most common mispronunciation of my name.

Dahr-ia as in say it with a New York accent and you are pronouncing it the way my mother intended.

If you’ve met me in this lifetime I introduced myself to you as Dare-ia, but depending upon who you are and where you live you may have heard Dar-ia or Dahr-ia. If you’re reading this and thinking, “Oh no! I have said her name wrong since I met her, don’t worry you’re not alone.” My own mom said that I say my name wrong. WHAT?!

Yep that’s right, I say my name wrong.

My mother grew up in The Bronx and my dad in Mt. Vernon. I also was born in New York. When we moved to Connecticut when I was two my parents brought with them their New York accents, I however barely spoke, therefore didn’t have an accent to carry with me across state lines.

After living in the South and the Midwest my family-of-origin is truly the only ones who pronounce my name correctly. On the occasion that I meet someone from the boroughs they, too, make my mom proud. I have to admit it does make me smile to hear it pronounced as my mom intended, but please don’t ask me to say the three ways over and over, because if you are not from that area your ears will likely not hear a difference.

Then there are those who just call me “D”. There are only a select few people who can get away with this. If you happen to be one of them, you already know you are in an elite group. My mother was appalled the first time she heard someone call me D; saying that if someone didn’t take the time to learn my name they were being disrespectful.

I do not like being called Dar-ia, but after a lifetime of pronouncing and spelling my name for others I have learned to choose whom I correct. For one thing, if I don’t think our paths will cross again I likely will just let it go. If I’ve corrected you more times than I care to remember than I likely will give up on you and hear my mother’s words in my head.

Talk to you later,

Dare-ia

p.s. I am now old enough where I have loved my name for more years than I haven’t.