Fann

“When I was in London, because they were not able to say Queralt, they called me Q,” says Queralt Rodriguez Salinas. In Berlin, Queralt has to repeat her name three to four times before people get it.

Andra with her deliberately grey hair exclaims, “I’m a village girl actually!” Andra was born in Jakarta but grew up in Bandung, Indonesia. From her demeanour, you can tell that 27-year-old Andra is a vivacious person. Her eyes disappear into squints when she smiles, and she laughs straight from her belly.

Stephanie, strictly Stephanie and never shortened to Steffi, is a product of East and West Germany; much like how Berlin is too.

Lüderitzstraße, Nachtigalplatz and Petersallee in Wedding’s African Quarter might soon lose their names to an initiative started by the district’s administrators. They want to rename the three places, which are…

For those with names that are difficult to pronounce, or with non-native names in their adopted culture, the frustrations of misnaming or mis-pronouncing are all too familiar to you.

In many ways, Santosh Voigt is quite a person of contradictions — one who lives in Berlin, but isn’t from Berlin. Dressed in muted colours of black and grey, Santosh has a beer in hand while