Friday, May 9, 2008
Changes
Life is full of changes, but for us this is a significant one. We have decided to change our last name. Soon, I will no longer be known as Alisa Rasheed. This decision was influenced by Aqeel's father. There is a story behind this and I will give you the short version. Before Aqeel was born his parents were members of the Religion of Islam. When they were fully converted into the faith the custom was to take on an Islamic name. My father went from Edward Johnson to Idris Rasheed. When Aqeel was born his parents named him Aqeel Amir Johnson, as they had not fully converted. Upon conversion Aqeel's last name was changed to Rasheed. Since 9/11 Aqeel's father has been considering changing his name back. When he heard of our current struggle to find work, he was reminded of how hard it was for him to find work here in the south with an Islamic name (wished he would have thought of mentioning that to us earlier). So, he decided to change his name and has offered for us to be able to file with his lawyer, at no cost to us, so that we too can change our name to whatever we want. When all the paper work is filed and we receive court approval Aqeel, the kids and I will forever, as long as we don't change it again, be known as the Johnson family. I am sure it will be wierd at first, but we will all quickly adjust to it.
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6 comments:
That is cool and a cool story to go along with it!
I didn't know that whole background story of Aqeel's dads name - that is such an interesting story - that is definitely one religion that demands full attention (even a name change :)). I'm gonna have to work at getting used to the change, though :)
Can I just apologize now for calling you Rasheed for who knows how long??
My maiden name is Johnson, so I'm kindof partial to that name anyways! I hope it's not too compliceated of a process for you to make the change. I guess you'll have to come up with a new name for your blog too!!
Interesting, I knew you were Rasheed because they used to be Muslim, but I never wondered if you'd change back. Are you happy about it? It's probably a good idea, especially if the whole family is changing! I miss you guys!
Wow! What a cool story. I had no idea that there was name changing involved with the Muslim religion. I think it is sad that a name can have such an effect on job hunting. It probably will take awhile for you all to adjust to your name change, but it sounds like in the long run it will be beneficial.
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