Sassafrass

So, I've worked it out. The thing with my name.

Regular readers may remember I was recently lamenting the fact that my name had too many letters in it and was difficult to pronounce while over-tired or foreign. I had thought of going by "Sharn", to bring it more in line with my own mispronunciation, but I realised that even that is problematic.

Some NESB people have difficulty with the "sh" and roll the "r" (like, for example, Estonians), so it wouldn't really be that much easier to pronounce than "Sharon". "Shan" was a possibility, but it just doesn't look right. And it still has the "sh" sound, which may just get converted to "s" by some people anyway (like, for example, Estonians).

I think I may have mentioned earlier that, when I went to school all of my friends called me "Shazz" and my mother called me "Sharon", but after I left school that switch over for some reason. I expect it was because my mother was finally used to hearing "Shazz", but I introduced myself to new people as "Sharon" (what with it being my name, and all).

Anyway, I thought "Shazz" might be easier to pronounce, except it also has the "Sh" sound and the "z" sound, which is also a challenge for some people, who are likely to pronounce it as "s" anyway (like, for example, Estonians)...

Then I realised that, if I go with the flow - and deliberately convert everything to "s" sounds, I've actually got something that might be completely slurrable and pronounceable by all: "Sass" (or, as I'd probably spell it in Estonia: "Säss").

Easy to spell, easy to pronounce, easy to throw at people: "My name's 'Sharon', but you can call me 'Säss', if you prefer"...

Plus, (according to Google) in German it means "buttocks", which is hilarious. Actually, in Germany, I'd probably just go with "Sharon".