Names are a funny thing - one might seem like the most regular name in the world, until something comes along and completely changes its meaning.
Case in point: Alexa. Plenty of people are called Alexa, but it took on a whole new association when Amazon chose it as the name for its voice assistant - one that is now present in millions of people's homes.
One woman, Alexa Nizam, has written a fairly touching piece for Business Insider describing how her name has gone from something she loved - to something that causes constant annoyance.
She had plenty of years without needing to worry. Although it feels like a bit of tech that's been around for ages, we're actually only approaching Alexa's 10-year anniversary this year.
Advert
It was announced alongside the first Amazon Echo speaker in late 2014, and fairly quickly was a hit - arguably becoming the first truly useful and widespread voice assistant.
That was when real-life Alexa's life started to become more frustrating. She describes how things started to gather steam a few years later. "I worked at a department store in 2018, and at least once a day, a customer would make fun of my name. 'What's the weather today, Alexa?' 'What time is it, Alexa?'"
She says things got even worse when the pandemic arrived and Alexa, like so many of us, had to start working from home regularly. This meant video calls, and any time a colleague said Alexa's name, people's smart speakers in the background would chime up.
As Alexa puts it: "In almost every meeting, there would be a one-minute distraction for us to listen to Alexa say, 'I'm sorry, I'm having trouble understanding right now…' while everyone snickered to themselves and waited for her to finish. Then came a round of, 'So sorry, that must be so annoying,' before we'd rinse and repeat on the next call."
Advert
Interestingly, this hasn't put her off using Amazon's voice assistant herself.
"The most ironic part is that the Amazon device can actually be named something else. In my own apartment, my device responds to 'Echo' instead of 'Alexa' to keep the chaos to a minimum," she explains.
And she wouldn't change her name for the world, adding: "Despite the ups and downs, I'm still proud to be named Alexa. Just please stop asking me about the weather, OK? The other Alexa has that covered."
Advert
Of course, while they might seem random, the voice assistant names are pretty carefully tested to be easily picked up by their speakers without sounding like a host of other words that could cause false detections.
While that might work technically, it obviously doesn't account for people like Alexa, or indeed anyone called Siri - thanks to Apple's voice assistant.