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epitome of incomprehensibility
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I was just on a fundraising committee for something related to the long-ago feeding_the_poor_with_dandelion_leaves, and the chairperson asked me to write thank-you letters to people. Now, it looked like four of the Ghanaian guests (and/or donors) had the first name "Nana."
I wondered: was that masculine or feminine? See, the letters were at least semi-formal and I wanted to know whether to put "Mr." or "Ms."
Personally, I prefer seeing my name without honorifics. Even if people don't know how it's gendered, they can look it up and see me with a face and pronouns. With ears and prepositions. With verbs and a mind that wants to dispense with formalities, at least on my own behalf.
But here I thought formality was warranted. So, I sent a rhyming query to Professor Google - "name nana in ghana" - and found out that "nana" was itself an honorific, used for men or women, denoting royal lineage or at least an association with nobility.
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