What's in a name?

I was looking through some documents a few days ago and came across an interesting letter written by my dad. Here is a snippet:

Ontario Registrar Office

I would like to change my son's name from Ayyaz Sheikh to Ozair Sheikh
...

Sincerely

[my Dad's name]

I was shocked to learn that my parents had initially named me Ayyaz instead of Ozair. My dad wrote the letter to the Ontario Registrar Office to make this amendment. I took the letter to my mom and asked for an explanation. She confirmed the story and said that my grandparents actually preferred Ozair rather than Ayyaz. I was interested by this finding and queried my parents to the thought process that was occurring at that time. It was interesting to hear the other possible names that were being thrown around:

• Waheed
• Sarmad

I cannot picture myself with any of these names. There are people you probably come across in your life and concluded that so and so "looks like a Mohammad" or "acts like an Ahmed" without any reason.

If I had not been named Ozair than I would have lost out on my potential nicknames such as:

• Oz (My official Western name)
• Jose (My official American name)
  
• Ozwald (Unofficial name used by my high school friends)
  

and then there are the many times where my name has been mispronounced:

• Hozair
• Ozaaar
• Ogar (z looked like a g)
  

What's in a name ... there is a lot to a name, an entire life of nicknames, misinterpretations, and being called out to accept prizes, the latter which I am still waiting for ;-)