I suppose a good topic to start off this blog with is my name. After all, a name like “Amanda Sodhi” does spark a lot of curiosity. So here goes the story behind my name…

“You’re Amanda?!” is usually the first expression of disbelief and amazement I get whenever introducing myself to unknown people. Let’s face it…it’s a bit hard to imagine that a Sikh girl of Indian origin is going to be named Amanda. Professors, students, friends, relatives, sales associates, journalists, Bollywood celebrities, and, yes, even prospective employers, all stare at me with widened eyes when I provide them with an innocent and honest answer to their routine question, “What is your name?” More often then I’d like, these people will assign me with the tedious task of further explaining to them how exactly did I get stuck with the name Amanda.

Originally, I found it quite nosy of them to ask such a question of me. “Ask my parents if you’re so inquisitive,” I wished to retort, but never did because doing so would be rude and un-Amanda-like.

Now, after 22 years of telling people how I got named Amanda, I’ve perfected the story so it only takes 2 minutes to tell…After all, time is money—

My parents wanted to give me an “American-sounding” name Americans would not have difficulty pronouncing. My mom really liked the name Amanda which started with the letter “A,” which was the letter they were told to begin my name with after a Sikh child-naming ceremony. My mom loved the meaning of the name Amanda, which means in Latin “worthy of love/beloved/much loved/precious.” Supposedly a rough Hindi and Urdu translation of my name would include, "pyaari," "jaan-e-mann," and "dilruba." 

Little did my parents know that although Amanda isn’t difficult for Americans to pronounce, it is very difficult for them to make a mental note that the name Amanda can also belong to a girl like me.

Oh, and my parents also forgot to give me an “American-sounding” last name, because people always stumble over an easy last name like Sodhi, mispronouncing it as “Sodhs,” “So- die,” “Sod- heee” and sadly even “Soda.” Even the infallible Microsoft Word Spell Check’s greatest desire is to replace my last name with its innovative suggestions: “Sushi” and “Sodium.”

For me Amanda means a lot more than the Latin meaning that grabbed my mom’s attention. According to my dictionary, Amanda means the following:

Amanda (proper noun): unique, standing out.

Amanda combined with the last name Sodhi is extremely original. As a matter of fact, after a quick Google search and flipping through the pages in telephone directory for a Creative Nonfiction class assignment, I am confident that there is only one me, erm, one Amanda Sodhi. Thank God—I don’t have time to waste on competition anyway.

Amanda: synonyms: surprise, mystery.

As soon as I am through with shocking people with my first name, people will grill me with plenty of other questions—

Indians who haven’t actually seen me face-to-face always ask with great curiosity, “Are you half-Angrez (American)? Oh, are you half-Catholic?”

“Why is your hair sooooooo long?”
“How come you’ve never cut your hair!?!”
“You don’t drink?”
“You’re a vegetarian? But, you’re not even Hindu!”

“How old are you?” is another question everyone ends up asking me. This question has become a favorite of prospective employers who always overemphasize the fact that “you have to be at least 18 years of age” for the job. Hahaha. I’ll never forget how during my most recent trip to India, a bunch of relatives I was meeting after some time asked, “Kaunsi class mei ho, betaa?” which roughly translates into, “So, what grade are you in, kid?”

“Grade? I’ve already graduated from college!”

I guess Amanda also means “age gracefully.” Too bad for cosmetics companies—I won’t be needing their anti-aging products for a while.

You know, I find it really embarrassing now that it actually took me 18 years to love my name and be so proud of it. There was a time when my parents had to buy me souvenirs with my name on it to prove the benefits of having an “American name” and my sister had to buy me an address book with a list of other prominent Amanda’s to convince me that my name is cool. I guess The Simpsons’ episode when Bart makes fun of the name “Amanda” as “A-Man-Da-Hug-and-Kiss” wasn’t very helpful in my process of coming to terms with my name during the elementary school days. Nor, was it very helpful to the producers of The Simpsons’ in maintaining me as a viewer of their show.

Now, I’ve realized how blessed I am to have a half-American, half-Punjabi name. As politically incorrect as this may sound, a name like Amanda grabs the attention of Indians who are in most cases a bit West-obsessed. It was while I was working at the VOA’s Hindi Services that I quickly discovered a foreign sounding name gave me a certain sense of authority and credibility and helped me get through to high-profile people very easily. Of course, the natural American accent further enhanced this effect :-)

Eventually, a time came when I met other members of the Amanda species, which temporarily put me into an identity crisis. Now I’ve also become very possessive of my last name. After all, my unique identity is not complete without my last name. There may be other Amanda’s but there are no other Amanda Sodhi’s.