One of the funny, and sometimes frustrating, things about living in France is our “American” names.  Whether its the way our names are pronounced, written or misunderstood over the phone, we have adopted our “French” names.

Ryan doesn’t have many problems with his name, although it has sometimes been written as Rayan.

I, however, have become Cait (or sometimes Kate).  Caitlin is difficult for the French to say, and forget about trying to spell it.  I’ve had a few times where I’ve spelled my name over the phone and it has been really botched (my accent doesn’t help).  Put that together with trying to spell our last name and it really gets interesting….I once received a piece of mail addressed to Aitlin Pawoowlowski.

I can’t even begin to list the different ways Makenna’s name has been pronounced.  The French usually emphasize every syllable, and saying the letter a like “aah” instead of “uh”.

Reese is pronounced “Reeze” here, and most French people say “oh, like the show Malcolm in the Middle!” when I tell them his name (I didn’t even know there was a character named Reese on that show until someone here said that).  Some people think I’m saying Louis (loo-ees) when I say his name.  I usually have to say his name and then spell it for them to understand.

Not only are our first names difficult, but the name Pawlowski is definitely not French.  In Poland, our last name is pronounced with the Ws sounding like Vs and most people here pronounce it that way too.

My poor children will probably have to relearn their names when we move back.  But for now I will enjoy hearing the French pronunciations of Makenna and Reese, and I’ll embrace my alter ego Cait.