Woman finds out she's been pronouncing her name wrong for her whole life
By the time you're in your 20s, you expect to have most of the basic facts about yourself down.
Name, age, hair colour, height - they're details that don't change without intervention. Unless, that is, you learn you've been getting it wrong from the start.
It's a situation most people would probably struggle to imagine, but not Naomi Leanage.
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The 30-year-old content creator introduced herself a certain way for more than two decades, no doubt confident that her family would have corrected her from a young age if she was getting anything wrong, but that turned out not to be the case.
In a post on TikTok, Naomi explained that for her entire life she's pronounced her last name to rhyme with 'fromage', or Nicki Minaj.
It wasn't until she learned about how the name is pronounced in Sri Lanka, where her parents are from, that she realised she was wrong.
Rather than rhyming with 'fromage', Naomi's last name is actually pronounced 'leenagay'.
Reflecting on the discovery, Naomi commented: "I found out a couple of years ago from my dad, Paul. We asked how our last name sounds French. He said 'oh, well, it is not actually pronounced like that'."
Naomi's family moved from Sri Lanka to Canada, where people mistakenly began to pronounce their name like French cheese. Rather than living a life constantly correcting people, Naomi's dad decided to change the way the family said their last name.
"My siblings and I were very shocked, I felt like I was bamboozled my whole life," Naomi said. "My mum, Nayana, 62, knew but she didn't think to mention it."
In spite of the realisation, Naomi and her siblings have decided to stick with their own way of pronouncing their surname. She learned that she's not alone with her story, as after posting it online other people responded to share their own experiences.
She explained: "A lot of people have said to me that when they came to live in western countries, their names would be changed or spelt differently. I feel like over two decades of saying it, I don't think I can switch it up that easily - I will continue to say it how I have been doing."
Naomi said it would have felt like 'espionage' if she decided to change the pronunciation now, and I have to admit it that changing the way you say your name after two decades of practise would be hard to get used to.
At least now Naomi knows the truth!
Emily Brown