Nikki Haley and the Burden of an Unpronounceable Name

Last week, the American talk-show host Sunny (née Asunción) Hostin attacked the former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley as a “chameleon” who chose “not to embrace [her] ethnicity” because she does not use her given first name, Nimrata. Nachama Soloveichik comments:

Meanwhile, racist trolls on the right often use “Nimrata” to try to paint Nikki as un-American. All of these people should have done their research. It turns out, “Nikki” is Nikki’s given name. It is a Punjabi name meaning “little one” and is listed on her birth certificate. Nikki is the name she has gone by since she was a little girl—long before any political aspirations.

I work in a public role as a political spokesperson. My name has been in hundreds of articles. I spend a good portion of my life on the phone saying “N as in Nancy, A as in apple, C as in cookie, H as in hat, A as in apple, M as in Mary, A as in Apple.”

At work, I go by “Nahama.” It’s not because I’m ashamed of my name, but because it makes my life easier and the lives of people around me easier. . . . Names are funny. They can tell us a lot about a person or not much at all. In my case, my name tells you about my ancestors and my religion. My last name—which means “little nightingale” in Russian—tells you about my paternal ancestor’s general geography. But names can also be deceptive. Soloveichiks as a clan, it turns out—from my family at least!—are rarely little and not very good singers.

I have adopted a carefree attitude about the predictable awkwardness. I don’t insist on people pronouncing my name correctly or get upset when they inevitably don’t. If I did, I would be upset 80 percent of my life, and that seems like a poor life choice.

Read more at Newsweek

More about: Names, Nikki Haley

To Stop Attacks from Yemen, Cut It Off from Iran

On March 6, Yemen’s Houthi rebels managed to kill three sailors and force the remainder to abandon ship when they attacked another vessel. Not long thereafter, top Houthi and Hamas figures met to coordinate their efforts. Then, on Friday, the Houthis fired a missile at a commercial vessel, which was damaged but able to continue its journey. American forces also shot down one of the group’s drones yesterday.

Seth Cropsey argues that Washington needs a new approach, focused directly on the Houthis’ sponsors in Tehran:

Houthi disruption to maritime traffic in the region has continued nearly unabated for months, despite multiple rounds of U.S. and allied strikes to degrade Houthi capacity. The result should be a shift in policy from the Biden administration to one of blockade that cuts off the Houthis from their Iranian masters, and thereby erodes the threat. This would impose costs on both Iran and its proxy, neither of which will stand down once the war in Gaza ends.

Yet this would demand a coherent alliance-management policy vis-a-vis the Middle East, the first step of which would be a shift from focus on the Gaza War to the totality of the threat from Iran.

Read more at RealClear Defense

More about: Gaza War 2023, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy, Yemen