Donald Trump is seen on a video screen during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. His deliberate mispronunciation of Kamala Harris’ first name is racist and a not-so-subtle message about power and control.

I mispronounced my wife’s name on our first date. We connected online so I had only ever seen it in print, but still, when we met for the first time, I botched it. She is Resham — pronounced RAY shum — but I swallowed the first syllable and leaned too boldly into a broad A in the second: ruh SHAHM.

However, I then did what every decent person does with an unfamiliar name and asked, meekly, “Did I get that right?” She gently corrected me, and the rest is history.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that moment as she and I get ready to welcome our first child later this week. We’ve been trying to come up with a name for months now, and though we’ve got a few semifinalists, we’re waiting to see his face before we decide for sure.

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Some of the names we’re considering, like my wife’s, have an Indian derivation. My mother-in-law is from Punjab, and Resham is a family name — her grandfather’s. So Arjuna and Agastya are on the list, as are Samar and Kavi.

But ever since Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race cleared a path for Kamala Harris to claim the nomination, I’ve........

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