I am Karema Alene Ismail Ahmed Hassan Eldahan. Yeah… that's my name. Friends and acquaintances always have some type of remark to make upon hearing the extensiveness of the name I was given, not necessarily bad commentary, but usually a little taken aback. I remember being in class one day, when I was much younger. For whatever reason, we were discussing a trend of parents giving their children…. "different" names. At that point in time, the longest name in the world belonged to a kid who had been named after every character in the Jungle Book. Sometimes I felt that I could relate to this kid, however, I've always liked my name as well. It makes me unique and I'm named after people who mean a lot to me. I have a family tree all within my very own name! In my parents' defense, they aren't loons; there is a reason behind my long name.

In Egypt the concept of a "middle name" is unheard of. In Cairo alone the population is over 16 million and with so many people, the chances of there being multiple people with the same name in the same place (say work or school) are incredibly high. In fact, I can instantly think of seven guys at my work who are named Mohamed, five guys named Amgad, two named Ramy, a few by the name of Sherif, two girls by the name of Yasmine, and so on. In order to minimize confusion, children are given a name, followed by the name of their father, grandfather, and then great-grandfather. Because of the naming system, whenever my boss needs me to give something to Mohamed he specifies which Mohamed by using his first name followed by his father's name, such as Mohamed Maged or Mohamed Amin or Mohamed Samy.

I guess, shortly before my arrival in this world, my dad was explaining to my mom the naming system in Egypt. I don't know whether she felt obligated to give me several names because she thought that's what my dad wanted, or if she just liked the idea, but for whatever reason, I was named according the naming system in Egypt. My younger brothers, on the other hand, weren't given so many names, so I guess this was a trend my mom started and ended with me.

"Alene" however, is a name that doesn't follow with the Egyptian naming system. "Alene" came from my mom's mom, Juanita Alene. Mom incorporated her name into mine just for the sake of it. Whenever I am in Egypt and I have to write my full name on a document of some sort, or when my Egyptian colleagues see my ID card or Egyptian passport, or any official document, they always question what the meaning of "Alan" is (they never do pronounce it correctly). I then proceed to tell them it's a middle name, a name that was given to me after my grandmother on my Mom's side. I then try to explain to them that middle names are common in the US. "Ghareeb" (strange), they say, just as those in the US might say about my rather long name. But it's not really strange to me; I can only think of one person back home who lacks a middle name, but in Egypt, it's not really customary.

Now, recalling that year in high school when our English class studied Shakespeare, and more specifically, Romeo and Juliet, I recall the following question, "What's in a name?" Well, for me, there's my Nana Karema, my mammaw Juanita Alene, my father Ismail, my grandfather Ahmed, and my great grandfather Hassan, followed by my family name, Eldahan. It's interesting how much, from culture to culture, a name can speak for you.

Karema Alene Ismail Ahmed Hassan Eldahan is a Middlesboro native living in Egypt. She shares her unique experience through this weekly column. Contact her via e-mail at editor@middlesborodailynews.com.