I grew up not liking my name, i keep complaining constantly when i have the chance about how my name is somehow an old fashioned and does not sound very modern. now having a glimpse in mind of all the weird names i came across in my life, Zainab, Still sound much way better than the other weird names …

In My Family, specially those who were raised up in villages and rural areas,they used to pick up the weirdest names to their new borns. I am not sure what was their inspiration back then to have such weird names, never existed or heard about anywhere else ! Some of them though do make sense, like the name Fikhtory (feminine) with the KH pronounced as خ in arabic, according to a family source, during the times when Iraq was occupied by Britishes, a female solider named Victoria, was popular among the people in those rural areas, they couldnot communicate with her as most people there could not speak english, the only thing they understood was her Name, Victoria, which they even could not pronounce correctly and ended up giving it to their new born baby girls as Fikhtory !

Giving your daughter a name about how to do something

!Kaifiyah! (Feminine) in arabic كيفية is still wierd enough to wonder why would they name her such a name but it was also popular as the story from untrusted source (kaifiyah herself) says it was the name of the mother of Abdulkareem Kassem, a popular political figure in iraq during the 50s and she got the name because her father, used to think he is a good man and was a fan of him !

Among all the names that i found so weird and hated the most was the name Normal (masculine), in arabic عادي. This name was somehow in the family always linked to annoying male character, those who gossip and talk behind others, trouble maker and liar, i am not sure what was the motivation behind his mother to give him such a name, but normal, was also somehow not only gossiper and trouble maker, he somehow disliked my mother that at certain times he accused her greatly of something she never did and aimed to destroy her marriage. My mom on the other hand stood alone against all those waves of false accusations and misinformations and gossips, she never wanted her marriage to fall apart as she saw it as her only support, which in real life she never had it but she used to shut people mouthes by saying she is a married woman and my father is there for her, even though he never cared in the first place.

Normal continued gossiping, his fave hobby was putting his noise in woman businesses as if there is nothing else he could do, he was also a very dangerous as he found his way in penetrating through the family without anyone being able to stop him.

Funnily, my mom used his name as a nick name to anyone in the family having traits of his bad personality , the modern Normal though that we know now is way more dangerous than the normal who were born in the 40s or the 50s.

The current Normal used to have extreme anger toward my sister if she hides family related news from him, he put his noise in everything, thinking it is okay for him to do that, he never found someone, a real man who could just grab him by the collar and throw him a way ! his mother who used to give herself the nick name Lili on facebook, a nickname of Layla, said she never wanted to have children after giving birth to him him, but according to my sister side of the story he was adopted, his mother never was able to give birth to children, in arabic : لقيط

The story continuous as Normal always tell stories about his childhood and the way he ran away from iraq because, according to his story, some group of people mistaken him with someone else who were wanted to them, and he could not defend himself so the only thing he had to do is to run away. According to my sister side of the story, he never was mistaken with someone else rather than he was the criminal himself!

Either way, This name “Normal” carries with him too much uncertainties , mistrust and betrayal.

It went further, he found himself comfortable in crossing my privacy and my choices in settling and finding a good man to marry. I remember, in 2020 when i met someone who carries the name Farhan as a family name, his response “normal” was immediately: he is originally from Pakistan rather than Saudi Arabia, this name is not popular as a family name among the Arab families. My response was not only being shocked rather than thinking how comfortable a لقيط can be in crossing my boundaries and judging others based on their names if they are arab or non arab as if all those people are angels and معصومين من الخطأ…

while me standing still, not able to do anything about it, normal is continuing his way of crossing his lines. Funnily, while my mom gave him the name Normal, his family were giving him a nickname as : “S@& al hindi “ … among all the nicknames and the تشبيهات … the story is lost, the truth is unrevealed , the criminals are having their way out and practicing their lives normally, and the only one who is trying to find a way out of all of this is “Zainab” herself …

Zainab

31.03.2024

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