Your Name is Sara - NoktahHitam

Sara. This is your name.

Unlike your Malay peers who has 3-4 names, you have a very short name. Short does not mean you’re any lesser than anyone. It also doesn’t mean you’re weird. We picked a very short and simple name for many reasons.

The world is complex, you shouldn’t be. Today, the world is a huge clutter. We’re constantly talking about improving this, efficiency that, more of this, less of that. You’re a product of uncluttered. Pure and true in it’s form.

No one calls anyone by their full name every time. Most people call me, Edwin not Muhammad Edwin or Aisyah instead of Nur Aisyah. By calling a single name it resonates clearly what your name means. Maybe we’re just lazy to call out lengthy names every time we need you to pick up your toys.

I have always envied my Chinese friends who can have as little as 6 letters to their name. Having short name makes it easier for you to write your name in any application forms. This also reduces human error. Or maybe we haven’t got all the time in the world to fill up your name.

To be really honest, your name is Iman Sara or Sara Iman. Your mother prefers the first, I love the latter. Since we couldn’t agree where Iman should be before or after, we dropped it off. It’s a simple math.

Iman Sara Iman = ~~Iman~~ Sara ~~Iman~~ = Sara

I remembered going to JPN to register your name. When my number was called, I showed the officer my application form. He asked, “Sara je”. “Ye bang, Sara”. He looked at me, puzzled by the shortness of your name.

He continued typing your name in the system and reaffirms me, “Betul ni, Sara je?”. I nodded.

As he was just about to press enter, he triple checks with me, “Bang, saya nak tekan enter ni. Kalau dah lepas nak tukar nama kena naik mahkamah, appoint bla bla bla… so ok betul Sara je?”.

“Ye betul tu”, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed. 15 minutes later he passed me the your birth certificate.

Now the ultimate question is what does ‘Sara’ mean? As I have mentioned to you before in previous post, it means happy girl. Every parent in this world wants nothing but happiness for their kids, so do we.