Name As It Appears On My ID

                Some people that look and pronounce my name can assume that I am Vietnamese but, the story behind it is much more difficult to explain.  I was born and raised Cambodian, I can speak and understand the language.  I never really understood why there was Vietnamese in my family until I grew up.  During the Vietnam War, some of Cambodia's land was taken by the Vietnamese.  My father's side of the family adapted to their new home learning the language and their new home traditions. My name is Thi Lee Thach.  Funny as it is I go by both my first and middle name, some people call me Thi and some call me Lee.  My last name was not always Thach, in fact it is my name after marriage.

            When I was born there was a mistake on my social security card and birth certificate.  It read as Lee Thi Danh and Thi Lee Danh, Lee was supposed to be my first name, but due to the mix up Thi was now my first name.  It was on my every school record, and other important documents.  On my dad's side of the family all the female’s middle name were Thi.  I do not understand the meaning, but I suppose it was a tradition they kept in the family.  Although my family never called me Thi, I knew that I was only going to be called Lee by my family and closest friends.  My name does give me a clue to my heritage since there is so much meaning to my first, middle, and last name. If I had the chance to change my name, I would have to say that I would not even consider it.  Growing up I got picked on because my name was harder for the other students to pronounce, it was different, and they could not accept it.  I am glad my name is what the way it is, I enjoy being different and I do accept myself for who I am.

            My last name was not always Thach, it was Danh, my birth name.  When I got married, I was not going to change my name but the military suggested that I had too.  So all my Id's had three different names on it.  When I needed to open a new bank account about two years later, they would not let me unless I fixed my name, for identity security reasons.  It did not make sense to me to change it because I liked that it was all mixed up, it was interesting for me.  When I finally changed my last name, and changed Thi to my first name, I felt like I lifted off a lot off my shoulders.  I felt like I do not have to explain to people why my name was the way it was.  Life was just simple and all my Id’s had the same name on it.  As I have said Thi Lee Thach is now who I am and will be for the rest of my life.