Like the Sandal, Only spelled Different

Tevah is a rare last name. If you were to search Tevah on Facebook, only 56 results would be returned. If you were to search it on Google the results would balloon to about 56,000. Compare that with Smith. Facebook will return about 2.7 million results while Google will return about 366 million results. Most have trouble pronouncing Tevah. The American bastardization of Tevah is pronounced TEE-VUH. However, pronounced with a Hebrew inflection it comes out like tay-VAH.

I have always been proud of my last name on many levels. Proud of carrying the same last name as my grandfather who fought in WWII for Greece against Germany as a guerilla soldier. I am proud of how rare it is. I am proud of the fact that I have a seemingly direct connection with history. I also enjoy the fact that it makes me appear vaguely ethnic, that I have some faint dissonance with the privilege provided by much more common names. It gives me pride to bear the name and I appreciate the background history and sense of family it has given me.

I am first generation American for the Tevah family. My father and his family moved to the States when he was only 5 due to severe health problems. They were foreigners in a land somewhat hostile to foreigners as it was the 50's and communism was preying on the fears of just about everyone in the country. Skip ahead a few decades and my brother and I were born. As we were raised it was made clear to us our family culture. Greek food, greek remedies, greek language, and greek culture. From as early as I can remember, my (excuse the spelling) Papou and my Manamou called my Matyemou or Kersomou. I learned songs like Coopepe, and I learned words that my family would describe my behavior by. I was caught lying, I would be called a “sefty.” If I was complaining too much, “nyowreezee” would be my name. If I was just simply making trouble I would be called a “kartomboula.”

Another interesting aspect of my name is that is Hebrew. Now, it might sound strange that I bear a hebrew last name while being of greek descent, that however, is where it gets interesting. To trace back the roots of my last name would take you back to Spain pre-Inquisition, where Tevahs lived as far back as anyone could remember. In case anyone isn't familiar with the Spanish Inquisition, anyone in Spain that wasn't Catholic was, to put it lightly, frowned upon. In fact, Catholics frowned upon the non-catholics so much that the decided to offer them the option to either convert to Catholicism or be brutally murdered. Being the keen ancestors that they were, they decided not to compromise or die, and they fled the country and made their way down to Greece. There they lived and prospered for a couple of hundred years until they emigrated.

I find some strange sense of pride in my last name. It may not really reflect on me as a person but I still like it and that's all that matters to me. To have something that stands out in this day and age is becoming harder and harder. There are certain things that one should hang on to and mine is a sense of pride in my name.