Today I had an interesting request. I must say I’ve never had this request before. Written on a database change form (what we use to make changes to check-in and family information) was the note, “Can we put (..) over ‘i’ in Nyeima’s name?”

Say what?

I get it. There are lots of international transplants with interesting symbols and modifiers in their names living in our communities. Most seem to be okay with the fact that us ethno-centric Americans aren’t going to know what to do with the things we don’t recognize and not expect us to make changes for them. But why shouldn’t we? It’s their name, right? If it’s easy to do, shouldn’t we put forth just a little extra effort to honor them by typing out their name correctly. I think so.

So when I saw this note, I turned to my friend Google. I had a feeling that this was an easy fix and it was. I’m a Mac user, so this little guide helped me out. Technically it’s called an i with diaeresis. To make it, you type “Option-u i.” Literally, you’ll hold down the option key and press u, then press i alone and you get ï. Woo hoo! You’ll see all kinds of other symbols as well. Other symbols worth knowing are  ® © â„¢. You can find all of these symbols and more from the link above. For you windows users, I think this pdf lists the shortcuts for your keyboards.