Mi Nombre...

My name is Shivam Desai. I was named after the Hindu god Shiva who is part of the Trimurti or Trinity. In the trinity, Shiva is the destroyer/transformer. When I was younger I would often believe that I was meant to be an evil little child who would run around breaking things. It was pretty cool think that at any moment I could "Hulkify" and go bonkers. As I grew up and read more about my religion, I realized that Shiva is the destroyer in a sense that everything good must end to be reborn again.

Surprisingly I've had various nicknames and one mispronunciation that stuck with me until high school. In Kindergarten my teacher mispronounced my name as "Shih-vawm" and everyone laughed because it was a strange name. Being the little goofball that I was (and still am ), I laughed too and never bothered to correct them. The high school that I attended was far from my home and only a handful of students had known me from middle school. On the first day, one teacher reminded us that the first few days would be the perfect opportunity to make a new image. I decided on that day that I wanted to be called "She-vum" and not "Shih-vawm." I still remember the expressions and glares that I received from my former middle school classmates as they screamed "We've been calling you the wrong name for 3 years!?"

Nicknames = Shivvy, "Shove-It" Shivvy, Shivvy D, Sheevster

It's funny to me that your name is so easily mispronounced by English speakers. I think we are not used to putting the accent on the first syllable with words that end in vowel + m, but I'm not sure. I know that I was inclined to mispronounce it and frequently have to remind myself that it is she-vum. I'm glad you set the record straight in high school. It's hard to correct people, but important, too. I like hearing about what a handful you must have been as a toddler. Never would have guessed it! The meaning behind Shivam is also interesting. Is it a common name, I wonder?

I understand the apathy towards correcting someone accidentally changing your name for the rest of your school years, that happened to me too! The image of you running around and "hulkifying" made me laugh. I would like to know more about your nicknames, but you probably ran out of time... Shivvy

I think it is really cool that you are named after such a deity. Shiva is a summon entity which is often featured in the game Final Fantasy based on the deity. I think in addition to all things good must be reborn, all things bad must also be destroyed in order for them to be cleansed and reborn as good. In a sense, Shiva isn't really a destroyer but more like a purifier. Also sorry about getting stuck with a mispronounced name, it happens because we are not use to pronouncing names from a different language.

Just a heads up, I'm going to call you "Shove-it" from now on.... let the record show that you brought this upon yourself by listing your nicknames on a public forum!

In all seriousness, this is really interesting. I like the concept of Shiva. It's a very meaningful thing to be named after. It's almost like your parents were setting you up to have some major responsibility in the world.

Am I the only one who was thrown off by the Spanish title leading into a discussion about a Hindi name? It was off-balancing, though not in a bad way.

I would also like to know more about those nicknames. They seemed like a rush addition. Good story, though, with the shock when you decided you wanted it pronounced correctly.