My real given name is Ronwaldo Emmanuel. My dad wanted me to become Emmanuel Jr., but my mom didn't want a Junior, so they agreed that my dad would decide on my first given name and to use Emmanuel only as a second name, but that my mom would decide on my nickname. My dad decided to name me after Ronwaldo Reyes, a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr., the late famous Filipino actor admired by millions and more recently presidential candidate who lost against former president Gloria Arroyo. My mother then decided on "Ronjie" as nickname, to put a dash of her own name into mine as well, her nickname back then being "Mojie."
In the Philippines, there are plenty of parents who vent their inner creative natures in giving their children names that their children wouldn't rather have. Ask any Filipino; they would know someone who has a sucky name. Or at least heard of one. Many Filipinos though, outgrow their given names or even nicknames as childhood names. The list is quite long. They usually don't use those ugly names anymore. Who the hell wants to be called an ugly name, right? Well, it's a childhood name. And it's fine of course to still be called that by people from your childhood, like family and childhood friends. But no, it's not so cool when you're not a child anymore.
Anyway, "Ronjie" is a childhood name. For the information of those of you who I met after high school, the "Ron" part is supposed to be pronounced like "John," not like "Jon" in "Jonathan." But you know what, I like "Ron" pronounced like "Jon" more than "John." Because that's how normal people would read it. That's how everyone reads it.
Many times in my childhood, because I and everyone else pronounce "Ron" like "John," people have mistaken my name over the phone or spelled it in letters and greeting cards and what not as "Rangie," or "Randy," or "Ranjit," or sometimes "Rongie," or worse, "Vangie." You know, we're in the Philippines and "o" is normally pronounced like the "o" in "Jon." And when you pronounce "o" something like the "o" in John, Filipinos hear that as an "a." So there's the main problem.
And you know, your name is the sweetest sound to you. Being called by other names not your own is hurtful.
So, I have since changed from "Ronjie" (like John) to "Ronjie" (like Jon). But you know what. I blog a lot in English, converse with many people from around the world in English, and "jie" is a very unusual name. I personally don't like it. Like civil engineering, a degree that I myself did not choose but it is something in which I obtained both a bachelor's and a master's degree in, and for now I've had more than 10 years experience in. I should start change, and take more control of who I am.
My real name, "Ronwaldo," is one Spanish form of "Ronald," though usually it's "Ronaldo." The short form of "Ronald" is usually "Ron."
That is who I am. Call me "Ron" from now on. That is who I am.
By doing this, I hope I won't be a frustration to my mother anymore, who always (as in always) told me "You are not like me; I was a valedictorian always on the top of my class and you are always only second place." So by removing the "jie," I am now certainly agreeing to my mother. I am not like her.
Oh no, what about RONJIE.COM?
Well, you know, RONJIE is such a unique name. Quite catchy, I think. I've noticed that many people in social networks are also named RONJIE. But I'm the oldest one of them which means I'm the first to have that name. But you know, as a name of a business, or as a website, it's quite cool I think.
So this is what separates me, "Ron," from RONJIE.COM. RONJIE.COM, like "Ronjie" was, is my child, my creation. RONJIE.COM is like a company. I personally think that RONJIE is better suited as a company name than a real human being's name. So yeah, my name is Ron and I own RONJIE.COM. So yeah, thanks to my mom, or else I probably wouldn't have thought of that name, RONJIE.
Now, it's quite clear where my name comes from. Ron is from Ronwaldo. No more further explanations, your honor. Heck, I don't even have to tell people what my short name or nickname is. It's obviously Ron.
That's 50% characters less than Ronjie as well. If for some reason I need to write my name 1,000 times, I would consume 50% less paper and help the environment. And it would be 50% less effort for me. Efficiency and streamlining, ladies and gentlemen. I so hate having to write my very long, 27-letter long name which usually didn't fit in forms with a certain number of boxes for the letters.
Talking about names, my wife and I have now agreed to one-name given names for our babies. Me and my brother, and my wife and her 3 siblings, all have two-name given names. It's fun to give your children all sorts of names you can think of. It sucks when you're the one who has to write those very long names all the time. Of course, if we were 10 years in the future and digital signatures were already commonplace, it probably wouldn't have been a problem.
One more thing. I'm a big Apple fan. For some reason - I don't know if it's coincidence or is it just American/English short naming convention - but their executive board members all have one-syllable nicknames. Steve. Tim. Phil. Scott. Ron. Bob. Pete. Bruce. Jeff. Oh sure, there's the legendary Jony (two-syllable nickname) Ive. But you know what, it's still just four letters long. Oh and his last name - one syllable. Not bad, still. And you know how to pronounce it correctly.
So, here I am.
My name is Ron, I'm a big Apple fan, and RONJIE.COM is my brainchild.
P.S. If you can't help but still call me Ronjie, that's fine. You're probably someone from my "childhood." Alternatively, you can call me RONJIE.COM instead. My child is in me, and I am in my child. :D But Ronjie (not Ronjie-dot-com), that's from my past. My true name is Ron.
ADDENDA.
* Whenever I google "Ronjie," Google always asks me "Did you mean Ronnie?" If Ronjie was my name, that is insulting. But hey, Ronjie is now just a website's name. :D
* http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ronjie. Not true at all for the many Ronjies I know. But then, there was the bad one who made the name infamous. No, I'm not Ronjie. But even if I were, I'm definitely not that kind of ronjie.
No comments:
Post a Comment