Claudia Zamora

Strings senior Roey Dushi.

Some say tomato, some say tomahto. Some say potato, some say potahto. Strings senior Roey Dushi may be interested in giving George Gershwin’s twang-y 1950’s song a few personal verses—the translation of Dushi’s Hebrew name has left his identity a spelling bee between Roy and Roey. Alas, some say Roey and some say Roy, but Dushi may agree it’s simpler to “call the whole thing off.”

For Dushi, whose legal name is actually Roy, the silly name discrepancy began after he left Jerusalem at age one. When he moved to Florida, the Hebrew name Dushi was given at birth did not translate into English characters.

“The story is simple. When we moved here, the closest name they could find to my Hebrew name was Roy, and that became my legal American name,” Dushi said. “But when I was enrolled in the school system, my parents thought that spelling my name as Roey would sound more like my Hebrew name, since there’s supposed to be an emphasis on the ‘ee’ sound.”

And so began Dushi’s “double-identity.” To the United States government, he was Roy, but to the Palm Beach County School district he was Roey—a conflict that inevitably resulted in quite the tongue twister as Dushi began applying to universities and conservatories.

“When I began applying to colleges, we suddenly realized that my name on school documents would appear as Roey and my name on my passport would read Roy. To avoid the confusion, I had to legally change my name in the school system to Roy in order to make my names match.”

Hopeful to ease the confusion for college admissions counselors, Dushi and his mother contacted the Palm Beach County School District with the intention of filing for a name change request. The necessary legal paperwork was successfully completed within a day; Dushi’s name was officially Roy. With legal matters resolved, Dushi is primarily concerned with enlightening his friends on his real legal name. Students and teachers alike find his story entirely humorous.

“Some people just like to mess with me about my name now,” Dushi said. “Mr. Ruth will call me Roy during class every once in awhile to poke some fun and bring some humor to the light-hearted situation.”

Although Dushi is officially Roy, he will continue to refer to himself as Roey as he proceeds to higher-level education.

“It’s really not very important to me—Roy or Roey, either way,” Dushi said. “I like Roy and Roey.”