Discussion #1 – Story of my Name(Flipgrid Discussion)

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For this week’s discussion, we will be utilizing a tool called Flipgrid for our responses. It will require you to record a short video in response.

To access our topic on Flipgrid, use the link on the navigation panel [left-hand corner] or click on the topic link (Links to an external site.)

You do not need to sign in or create an account (although it’s free). Here’s a video (Links to an external site.)on how to respond to Flip Grid.

Before you rush off to Flipgrid, however, please read over the discussion prompt below.

Instructions

What’s in a name? Many of us have been going by the names our parents or caregivers gifted us, while others of us made specific decisions (legally or otherwise) to go by a different name. In the case of the former, have you ever stopped to consider what thought (or lack of) that your loved ones gave into selecting the name? Or, if you’ve changed it, what considerations went into that name? This presentation asks you to dig further into that.

Presentation Goal:

Inform your audience about yourself by discussing any part of your name (first, middle, surname, nickname).

Directions

1: First, research your name using the following sites:

• The American Name Society
• Ancestry.com
• Names.org
• The New York Public Library

You are welcome to use other resources not listed above if you happen to find something interesting.

2: Interview a family member (or other knowledgeable people) asking about the origin of your name: How did they select the name? Is there any significance beyond the etymology (found in the sites above) that provides additional information?

3. Go to FlipGrid and deliver a 2-3 minute presentation sharing the information. This is meant to showcase extemporaneous delivery. That means that it’s ok to have note cards, but don’t read directly from them.

Just for Discussion 1, you do not need to respond to your peers but if you want to reach out and make friends or commend someone for a well-delivered presentation by all means reply on Flip Grid.

An example of this is given below:

Story of my Name

My complete name Shagundeep Kaur was given to me reluctantly by my father. He just wanted to call me Shagun which in Sanskrit [an ancient Indian language] means “good omen”. My paternal grandmother thought that it sounded masculine and insisted on adding “deep” to my first name. So now my first name “Shagundeep” means “the light of good omen” Quite a weighty name, wouldn’t you say? I hated it!!!

I have since then shortened it to just Shagun which is easier to pronounce. This became even more important to me when I moved to the US over a decade ago. I am proud of my name and my heritage so I did not want to anglicize it and call myself “Mary”:) . While there is nothing wrong with that, shortening my name helps me retain my cultural identity and still makes it accessible to all in a global society.

As a social justice and gender scholar, my self-identity is important to me. So I have neither my father nor my husband’s last name. Instead, my last name is the generic last name used by women of Sikh faith – Kaur.

So my name represents a culmination of my culture and my politics and I am now very happy with it:)