Alyssa Sofea - My Life (The Name Dilemma - plus a bit on the Birth Cert !!)

Part 2 - The Name Dilemma (plus the bit on the Birth Cert !!)

I was born as "Alyssa Sofea binti (daughter of) Asrul Muzaffar. However, during the first few months Papa and Mama just couldn't actually decide on my full name !!

According to Papa, he had always liked the name "ALYSSA SOFEA". It's a name that came to him in a dream a long long time ago - even before he met Mama, and he said he would name his first daughter by that name.

If I had been a boy, Papa would have a tough time looking for the right name !!!

I am not sure if there's any meaning for "Alyssa" in Arabic (Muslims are encouraged to name their newborns with names that carry beautiful meanings in Arabic); but "Sofea" does mean "the Wise". Therefore, if my full name is joined together, it would read:

"Alyssa The Wise, daughter of The Happiness of The One Who Succeeds"

Whew!!

Papa is actually from the descendents of "Megat" and he was supposed to have that title at the beginning of his name. But for reasons I'm still unsure, the title stopped at my father's father's father's father, Megat Abdul Hamid. Thus, my grandfather's sister insisted that I carry the title "Puteri" (meaning "Princess" in Malaysian language).

On the other hand, Mama is related to the Kelantanese royal family from the state of Kelantan, and DOES carry the title "Tengku". But I cannot have the title "Tengku" since Papa does not have the mentioned title in his name (in Islam, children are named after their father, not mother). So by naming me "Puteri Alyssa Sofea", it would suit both Papa and Mama's family sides well.

So, on 22 April 2000, 6 days after my birth; Papa went to the Lumut Navy Base Hospital to register for my birth certificate. It was just a day before that Papa and Mama decided to add the title "Puteri" in front of my name. So I was registered as "Puteri Alyssa Sofea binti Asrul Muzaffar".

A month later, the birth certificate was ready to be collected. To Papa's horror, the registrar has made a mistake in his name, which was spelled as "Asrul Muzaffar BINTI Mohammed" (it should be "BIN" - son of). Click on the birth cert above if you want to see what I mean ! Since Papa is pretty sure that he is 100% born a male, he had to go back to the registrar for amendments.

However, during the waiting period for my birth certificate, Papa has been doing some rethinking about my name. During one of the job interviews he attended, the interviewer did mention about the length of my name and said Papa must have been very cruel to name me that long (40 characters...including spacing). It would have been very difficult for me to fill in forms (credit cards, visa, etc) in the future.

Secondly, Papa thought that by renaming me "Alyssa Sofea", I would be listed in the "A" group at the top alphabetically as compared to "Puteri Alyssa Sofea" - obviously under the "P" group.

On the other hand, Papa does not want to let my grandfather's sister down, since it was her request to name me "Puteri Alyssa Sofea", and due to the fact that she was the one who had been taking care of Papa when he was about my age.

So secretly, Papa and Mama wrote a letter to the registrar office to rename me to "Alyssa Sofea", plus the other amendments as mentioned above. So...after 14 February 1999; it's now official - my full name is "Alyssa Sofea binti Asrul Muzaffar" But my grandfather's sister still calls me "Puteri" and just imagine how puzzled she must have been when I do not respond to her calls !!!

In due course, I am sure Papa will say that "You will always be a Puteri to me" whenever I ask him why he dropped the title "Puteri" from my name !!

And somehow I know that it would ALWAYS remain that way !!