I would never tell people that they should change their names because someone can’t pronounce them. But, like your name, mine is unpronounceable by many people in the place I live. I can choose to be angry about it, or I can see it as an act of service to make it easier for people.

If I’m going to be working with you, I say my name correctly and just accept any mispronunciations that come with it. I know I’m probably saying that person’s name wrong as well. But for places like pharmacies or starbucks, I’m just going to mispronounce my name to make it easier for all concerned.

That said, when I was in London, a place where they should be able to say my name, I gave my name to the cashier at Shake Shack and she wrote it down as “Sozen.”

Personally, I have spent almost 50 years on the planet (mostly in the US) with a foreign name that contains sounds that are not in the English language. I have given up and Americanized my name a long time before entering the workforce but that isn’t an act of service. It’s a survival hack.

I lived in Germany briefly at 16. I found it annoying that nobody could say the hard J in my first name. I heard “zhim” mostly, and occasionally “chim.”