Is a Name…

Is a Name…

One of the charming things about the name I was given, Omar, is that it is familiar to people from many parts of the globe — from Argentina to Zambia. The name manages to take on a distinct flavour wherever it goes. Depending on where the person's from it may sound like spreading butter or someone clearing their throat. This has made me question what's the nature of a name? Is it sounds or an idea? What makes a name familiar or foreign? What's the difference between naming someone 'Faith' or 'Iman?' Does my name call to something far away — a caliph, a poet — or something as familiar as a bale of hay on the prairies? Maybe, it's both? Is the way someone says my name a collective agreement? Is it negotiating respect and demonstrating accord? When I lived in Tanzania people would puzzle at the sound of my name, until I added an "i" to the end and all of sudden it became familiar and put a smile on their face. Is a name "mine" or "ours?"

The background of this submission is the "Canadian Prayer Rug" (canadianprayerrug.ca). The bottom of the rug is filled with wheat; a reference to Alberta's natural abundance and also tangentially related to one of the meaning of my name, “sheaf of wheat".