Source: quickmeme.com
Me on June 9th.
My name is Mame Bassine . I was named after my grandmother, Bassine on my father's side. The first part of my name, "Mame", means grandparent in Wollof/Jollof (my ethnic group) which is commonly used in my culture when naming someone after their grandparent or elder (i.e me being named by my grandmother!). And Mame is basically pronounced as: "Maam". The second part of my name has an even deeper meaning, Bassine is rooted from the Arabic name, "Basma" in the Wollof translation. (Bassine is also a name in many different European countries with a different meaning). This came to the Senemali region when Islam was introduced by the Arabs. In this context, Bassine means smile or friendly/friendship.
As I did further research, some philosophers say that someone with the name, Bassine is one who is just simply honest and fair because that’s the only way they believe something can be achieved. And when I read this, I just said, “that is so Me!”. I related to this so much, this is my mindset all the time, it is influenced by my Islamic religious beliefs and my set morals (which are intertwined many times). Ironically, at the same time, I don't really believe in superstitions or predictions made by philosophers. For me, a name is a name. I believe that what you do with that name you carry is what really defines you.
I have very mixed sentiments about my name, I sometimes like it and sometimes don’t. I “like” my name when I’m out of school. But during school, I have always struggled with my name. It is the name every teacher stops at during roll call or apologizes before they say it because it’s a very hard name to pronounce. Because of this, MIMI was created by my kindergarten teacher, it was also her grandmother's name (It's so easy to pronounce, and if you forget it, just think of yourself!). I am actually kind of envious of my FIVE sisters who ALL have easy names to pronounce, I guess my parents stuck me with the hard name.
My name is Mame Bassine . I was named after my grandmother, Bassine on my father's side. The first part of my name, "Mame", means grandparent in Wollof/Jollof (my ethnic group) which is commonly used in my culture when naming someone after their grandparent or elder (i.e me being named by my grandmother!). And Mame is basically pronounced as: "Maam". The second part of my name has an even deeper meaning, Bassine is rooted from the Arabic name, "Basma" in the Wollof translation. (Bassine is also a name in many different European countries with a different meaning). This came to the Senemali region when Islam was introduced by the Arabs. In this context, Bassine means smile or friendly/friendship.
As I did further research, some philosophers say that someone with the name, Bassine is one who is just simply honest and fair because that’s the only way they believe something can be achieved. And when I read this, I just said, “that is so Me!”. I related to this so much, this is my mindset all the time, it is influenced by my Islamic religious beliefs and my set morals (which are intertwined many times). Ironically, at the same time, I don't really believe in superstitions or predictions made by philosophers. For me, a name is a name. I believe that what you do with that name you carry is what really defines you.
I have very mixed sentiments about my name, I sometimes like it and sometimes don’t. I “like” my name when I’m out of school. But during school, I have always struggled with my name. It is the name every teacher stops at during roll call or apologizes before they say it because it’s a very hard name to pronounce. Because of this, MIMI was created by my kindergarten teacher, it was also her grandmother's name (It's so easy to pronounce, and if you forget it, just think of yourself!). I am actually kind of envious of my FIVE sisters who ALL have easy names to pronounce, I guess my parents stuck me with the hard name.
In terms of duality, for sure! I have two personalities, Mimi and Mamebassine. Mimi is only at school and now, at work too. At school and work, I'm an introvert, quiet, reserved, and very passive. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that I come from two very different cultures, Senegalese and American. I don't connect so much or as quickly with a lot of my peers, because of my mixed culture, my experiences differ very much theirs which can sometime cause confusion or misunderstanding. In the past, I've kind of left out my Senegalese culture when meeting new people and introduced it later. Out of school, I am a very different person (I guess this is when I'm Mamebassine) I'm outgoing, talkative, borderline extrovert (dare I say!), and funny. My non-school friends are mostly Senegalese and other African people. They understand me more because most of them are like me, first generation Americans. We've have had a lot of the same type of experiences, including the one I mentioned above with name pronunciation. I don't know I'm just really weird lol.
This was a great read- thanks for sharing!
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