NARECK

Nareck was the first time I saw my name written in English by my teacher. She said that the "ck" ending was the correct way, and I accepted it. I was 6.

At 16, I got my passport, and they had written Narek in it. The lack of the "c" bothered me a lot, and it still does after a couple of decades.

In my teens, another teacher once said, "Giving someone a name is like giving them a destiny"—nomen est omen.