Names matter. Central to identity, names influence who we are and how others view us. But even more important, names carry a story – a story of the past, perhaps carried across oceans or passed down through generations. They are attached to something or someone, or created and given to us. In some cases names can have the power to alter us, to give us agency, or, as history teaches – to erase us. Enslaved people were assigned the names of their masters, a process of dehumanization with the aim of obliterating people’s sense of self and identity.
The story of our name is another window into the examination of identity and the connection we can make with others.
Not all names are in our personal repertoire. Names can be cultural, religious, ancestral, or invented. Many people live day to day with the looming dread of someone mispronouncing their name in an initial meeting, mistaking it on the first day of school, or misspelling it on a Starbucks cup. To hear one’s name repeatedly mispronounced or misspelled is often so frustrating that people may alter the spelling or pronunciation to make it easier for others. Anglicizing, Americanizing, or simplifying names is easier for assimilation, but at what cost to the bearer of the name?
If we want kids to have a strong sense of self, we can celebrate names and the stories behind them. We can also teach kids to ask us about and understand the importance of names to others.
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The above has been adapted from Being the Change. To learn more, visit Heinemann.com
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