Armenian writer Nareg Seferian has decided to go by “Joe” in restaurants:
I was at a coffee shop with an Armenian friend of mine, and the person who took our order asked for a name to go along with it. I immediately said to myself, “No way am I about to spend half an hour going through ‘Nareg’ with this white American,” and then I looked at my friend. His name is “Shant.” I sighed and said, “Joe.” It was a coffee place, after all, and so “Joe” came naturally. Ever since, Joe has been my “restaurant name” in the States. A friend with a name even harder to pronounce for the average English-speaker had a similar story, but his included the restaurant at the time showing the film “I am Sam,” and so he went with “Sam.”
Do any of you use a restaurant name? If so, why?
(I don’t, but my husband does. His name is hard to pronounce, so he usually just uses “Nancy” in restaurants.)
Source: Seferian, Nareg. “What’s in an Armenian Name?” Armenian Weekly 27 Jan. 2011.