Editorial: Me, my name and the enye

“What’s your name?” 

I smile by instinct, ready to introduce myself. “It's Ar-Em. A-R-dash-E-M. But you can just think of the letters R and M if that makes things easier.”  

I don't mind misspelling my nickname, 'Ar-Em,' so people can remember and pronounce it correctly. Whether it was back in the Philippines or here in Aotearoa, it isn't common for names to have a dash. I understand that much. So, whenever I introduce myself, I immediately offer people a workaround by shortening my name to just two letters. It often does the trick. And if I'm fortunate, they might make a joke about RM from the KPop group, BTS.  

“Sweet as. And your last name?” 

Ah. Shit.  

My smile turns strained as I say, “It's Banas. That's B-A-N-A-S.”  

Why the unease, you may ask? Well, because that's not how my last name is spelled. It has an enye in it, which is the letter n with a tilde (the little wavy line) above it.  

Make no mistake, the enye has caused me trouble even while I was living in the Philippines. One would expect that in a country with Hispanised surnames, online government systems would be able to read ‘ñ’ instead of informing me that I must not include symbols in the text field, and that I must restart the entire process.  

It's pretty much the same here in Aotearoa when it comes to text fields and system errors. The only difference is that when I spell out my name in conversations, I have to stop and explain what an enye is. 

Thing is, I enjoy talking about my culture. If anything, I actively seek out opportunities to share it. But I must admit, there are instances when I find myself tired of explaining myself. This is one of those instances. Hence, misspelling my name on purpose.  

For this issue, I hope to share our stories, cultures, and experiences on our terms, and that includes writing out our names as it is meant to be spelled.  

So, kia ora koutou and magandang araw sa inyong lahat. My name is Ar-Em Bañas, that's A-R-dash-E-M, B-A-enye-A-S. We hope that you enjoy what we have in store for you this issue.