Wednesday, September 23, 2009

What's In a Name?

Sias is a name that no one can spell or pronounce correctly. As a Sullivan, I never had problems. As a Sias, I've learned that when giving my name over the phone, I should say, "First name is ..., last name is spelled S-I-A-S," with a snake-like emphasis on the S's so as to distinguish them from F's. When sitting in class, I know what common mispronunciations to listen for.

People often comment that they have never heard the last name Sias before meeting me. So, for those of you who mistakenly believe that Sias is an uncommon name, I present to you the following:

First, Sias is not just a hispanic name. According to the Sias Family Genealogy Forum, we are brown, black, and white.

Sias' are known academics. Excluding the obvious example (the author of this blog), Sias International University is the first solely American owned University in Central China. And don't forget SIAS Summer Institutes, designed to support the development of scholarly networks and collaborative projects among young scholars from the United States and Europe.

But we're not just geeky; we're also very athletic. Haven't you heard of the Ed Sias Invitational, a cross country running event?

The winning combination of brains and brawn make the typical Sias a very resourceful and innovative person. Take for example Sias, a leading developer and supplier of innovative multi-tipped robotic XYZ liquid handling systems and robot friendly functional modules for Laboratory Automation. That's right, we make things that the average reader can't even comprehend.

With all the great things that Sias's do, why doesn't anyone recognize our name?

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