Radio 4's Mishal, now Michelle Husain.

[srw]

biblical name Michelle.

Michelle isn't biblical. It's the feminine form of Michael, which is.

 

[srw]

Oh dear me...

You haven't met @Moodyman, have you? I have a sneaking suspicion you're making an incorrect assumption.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

User making an incorrect assumption? Surely not.

 

[Moodyman]

Michelle isn't biblical. It's the feminine form of Michael, which is.

Indeed, and Michael is a Hebrew name. Arabic and Hebrew being Semitic languages, have many derivatives of the same words/names.

 

[Moodyman]

Oh dear me...

We should go for a bike ride one day.

 

[snorri]

I was answering Snorri's point about Asians calling him up offering IT help with British names.

It's easier introducing oneself as 'Bert' rather than 'BharatinamlalKrishnan'. Real life example.

It might be easier but results in a lack of trust or credence when the conversation starts with a lie.

 

[growingvegetables]

It's an Arabic name. She may be of Pakistani origin, but she's also of a Muslim background. Mishal (and it's various other spellings: Michelle, Mishel) is the Muslim version of the biblical name Michelle.

Michael, in Arabic, would be (I'll have to do this sort of phonetically) meekha'eel. Used as a name? Would signify the bearer was a Christian, at least in Egypt. I've never come across Michelle used as a name - not even in Coptic families, many of whom would happily use European-style names.

My Arabic dictionary has gone walkies to Los Angeles, unfortunately, so I can't check this ... but Mish'al may mean "light and radiance" (but that's spelled and pronounced significantly differently in Arabic, with an 'ain (?)). [Edited to add - finally beaten Google translate* into submission - it means "torch".]

Ah - Lightened, sparkling, shining. Same spelling in Urdu as Arabic - so her name is being mispronounced anyway


* Not easy without an Arabic keyboard - but it can be done

 

[KneesUp]

Perhaps she prefers the current pronunciation of her own name and asked her colleagues to say it that way? I would imagine she is the only one who can answer.

 

[Levo-Lon]

No. Mishal is the Urdu equivalent of Mishal.

You can be a little bit vague at times Reg

 

[growingvegetables]

And while we're all off chasing this hare, it's easy enough to check. "Listen again" to the Today programme? Mishal it is.

Very slightly anglicised - the letter 'ain has gone. But that's no surprise at all - it's a sound which has no equivalent at all in English.

My middle name? Spoilsport

 

[Crackle]

And while we're all off chasing this hare, it's easy enough to check. "Listen again" to the Today programme? Mishal it is.

Very slightly anglicised - the letter 'ain has gone. But that's no surprise at all - it's a sound which has no equivalent at all in English.

My middle name? Spoilsport

So Salty needs to go for a hearing test.

SALTY! GO FOR A HEARING TEST.

 

[Globalti]

But this thread illustrates how people of non-British background do slowly integrate and melt into the general population.

Anyway let's have a photo of Mishal.....

 

[SteveF]

As usual people seem to be.....

Over very little.....

 

[mjr]

Roll your eyes all you want. I guess you have not experienced the pain of repeating your name to indigenous British folk who a) just cannot reconcile with its unfamilarity and then b) lazily shorten it without your consent because it's easier.

Don't think that's because it's foreign. Plenty of indigenous British folk can't spell my three letter indigenous British surname or my wife's four letter possibly-came-over-with-the-Normans one. The really special cases correct our spelling when we spell them out

 

[jefmcg]

Ethnic minorities feel considerable pressure to fit in and be seen as 'one of us'.

Deciding to change your name to fit in is done when you enrol in college, or put together your first CV or decide what name to use for your first on-air piece or assistant producer credit, not when you reach the near pinnacle of your profession and are well known.