NAMESAKE - YETTA

It is funny
My name....
The one that I chose to be called
Almost fifteen years ago
Back in Korea

I loved my Korean name
Seon Young (wise flower)
When I grew up in Mexico
It was unique

I quickly learned my name was extremely banal
Back in Korea
What a shock!!!!!
More than fourteen years believing something else

A good Japanese friend told me how
the characters were pronounced
With a slight modification
I adopted my "new" (phonetic) name

YETTA
I do not know why I spelled it this way

I was recently in New York
A guy told me it was a very old jewish name
Memories came back when I met this jew woman
in Mexico, with the same name.....

Today I googled YETTA
I quote what I found:
"Girl's name Yetta \ye(t)-ta\ is of Old English origin.
Short form of Henrietta (Old German) "ruler of the house"."

Once I thought why my Korean name was not
written: Sun Young (soleil jeune)
which would have had the same phonetics
in the roman alphabet

They say the name is crucial
Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" portraits this well
I think so too....


2006.12