What's in a name? A lot.

A woman, whose name is similar to the murderous jihadist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS, is petitioning the media to use a different but accurate acronym in reporting the nefarious activities of the group. She claims to be doing this to spare her and the rest of the women with the same name of the disgust and sadness people feel towards them when they introduce themselves with the name, Isis.

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The rise of the the group, known as ISIS, has been devastating for the millions of people now under its rule. These people now live in fear, facing the threat of genocide due to their religion and ethnicity. The name Isis came from an ancient Egyptian goddess and whose name is shared by some non-Egyptians today.

Isis Martinez, an alternative medicine provider living in Miami, is petitioning the American media to call the Islamic State  its accurate acronym ISIL or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant rather than ISIS. Martinez said that while President Obama has used the acronym ISIL and has become acceptable to some media practitioners and scholars, the acronym ISIS is still widely being used because it is more understandable and recognizable.

The petition, titled "Thousands of Women Are Named Isis: Please Petition the Media To Use The Accurate Acronym ISIL", was posted in social media. However, only 53 people signed the petition. Martinez has been bombarding journalists and the social media with her petition, but received only few responses. Nevertheless, she said she will not stop until her petition is signed by thousands of people.

Reports said Martinez started the petition after an awkward and sad incident took place between her and a nurse in an emergency room. A nurse asked her to to pronounce her name and when she did, the nurse said she was so sad for her for sharing a name with the Islamist jihad and asked Martinez if the former could use her middle name instead.

When Martinez said she preferred to use her name, the nurse told her that it was wrong and that she would call Martinez instead with  her middle name, Teresa.

Martinez said these incidents have become the norm already and that women having the same name Isis have talked to her and expressed the same emotions for sharing a name with the ISIS group. They expressed gratitude to Martinez for spearheading the petition.

Martinez said she did not blame the nurse for feeling sad about her name, but was saddened by the fact that the encounter is only one of the many awkward incidents being experienced by her and many other women in the United States.

When asked by a local paper if Martinez believed that the American media will hear her plea and start using the acronym ISIL rather than ISIS, she said that she believes in the goodness of people. She feels that the American media are only not yet aware of the impact they have in people's lives, including hers.

Martinez pointed out that she no longer wants to see the people's reactions upon introducing herself. She said many recoil in disgust and others become sad. She said these reactions have become the norm, prompting her to initiate the change-of-acronym petition to the media.

TagsISIS, ISIL, name