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I am composing a story about my grandmother's younger brother who, with the sacrifice of the family-owners of a "green grocer" where all the children had to work hard to enable him to study and, eventually become a MD. This was at the outset of the depression and he was the youngest child. He was tragically murdered the second day after opening his practice and it was a family tragedy with long term impact.
MY QUESTION: In English he would have been called by the name Benjamin. As a boy my mother would refer to him by-and I can only attempt it phonetically: BE-AGE or BE-ADGE, or a similar pronunciation. Much to my regret my Italian is limited to slang that would likely be unrecognizable in Italy. In high school, we were taught be mostly Irish and a few German priest. For some unknown reason this continues to incite my remorse and cause aggravation and anger. The "smart" students were made to learn German and Latin (the former I had no interest in learning, had poor teachers and the sound is, to my ear, unpleasant to be polite about; latin was and continues to be an interest that continues now that I am 61.) Next "intelligent" were given French, then Spanish. The Dumbest group (These words were actually used) were made to take Italian. It was not possible to get this class even if grades were at the highest level....)
Sorry for the rant, but the story is important as well as Benjamin, and using the actual first name is important to me as the author. Any assistance would be most appreciated.
My memory is intact and I can explicitly recall the name and that it was Italian for Benjamin. Help, anyone?