My sister Mimo (pronounced Meemo) changed her name, too, when she got married. Mimo is her family nickname. Her given name (given to her by my grandmother) is Fazilet, and when we moved to the US from Pakistan in 1973 people had a hard time pronouncing it, so her friends shortened it to Fizz. Sometimes affectionately her friends would, and still do, call her Fizzy.

Mimo met Seamus sometime around 1999. And when they got married a few years later, she too said to me, “I’m thinking about changing my name. What do you think?”

Without hesitating, I said, “Do it.” Given my feminist politics, she seemed a bit surprised that I would advocate that she take on her new husband’s name. “Why? she asked skeptically.

“Because then your name will be Fizzy O’Flynn.” What a perfect name for that Pub she’s always wanted to open. And what other brown skinned, brown-eyed, brown-haired South Asian woman do you know with a name like  Fizzy O’Flynn? Very original. One of a kind really. Gives new meaning to the term Black Irish too, I thought.

Even better, I soon realized, were her new initials. Fazilet Khan O’Flynn or FKOF. Perfect for such a bossy older sister.