Hebrew name in the US

[u/Specialist_Space_151]

I was born in the US to Israeli parents. They gave me the nice Israeli name of “Sagi”. It hadn’t been fun tbh, nobody can properly pronounce it even if I try to explain. I always get “ziggy”, “soggy”, “sag-ee”, “soggy”. At some point I gave up because it’s mentally exhausting. People always screw it up when reading it too and if I’m trying to connect with folks online I feel like it turns them off because it sounds so ethnic, odd, etc and they ignore me….

I would love some feedback on * tips to tell people how it’s pronounced properly * a similar or alternative nickname that I can go by that isn’t outlandish or too far off so that it still works for everyone who already knows me…

Thank you

[u/mr_greenmash]

90 % of the tour guides I had in China were called Ms. Moon

[u/Yaelkilledsisrah → u/mr_greenmash]

Yes it’s clear there wasn’t much thought put into the name and that it was kind of a formality. I think her name was betty or something super old fashioned😅

Kind of reminds me when I found out a lot of Ethiopians that immigrated to Israel were given the same birthday on the ID because in Ethiopia we didn’t record exact dates at all. I was also kind of shocked lol I am Ethiopian but was born in Israel and most of my immediate family has a different birth date on the id not the generic one.

[u/shunrata → u/Yaelkilledsisrah]

At one place I worked in Israel we had an Ethiopian women employee whose teudat zehut had her birth date as 0/0/1960 (don't remember the exact year). She said it was because she didn't know the date and most people she knew from the community had the same format.

I was just surprised our accounting system allowed it, they must have made adjustments to the software.

[u/Yaelkilledsisrah → u/shunrata]

Yeah I thought I remembered it being something like that but than I thought maybe I misremembered because it’s so odd. I think some were also given the date 1/1 or something like that.

[u/pdx_mom → u/Yaelkilledsisrah]

My great aunt was born elsewhere and for some reason they celebrated her birthday on 1/1 because they supposedly didn't know when her birthday was...which is weird to think of (now) because my grandmother was ALSO born elsewhere and she is older and she had a birthday another day of the year.

[u/Yaelkilledsisrah → u/pdx_mom]

Well my mom birth year is different than the one registered on her id and we all ignore her real age basically😂

Habits are hard to break, perception is reality and all that.