My name is.....

 My name is Ana Sofia Hernandez Gomez. My name is unique. Each part of my name, however, is the opposite. Ana is a popular name, and so is Sofia, so is Hernandez, and so is Gomez. People don’t ask me how to spell my name and get it wrong sometimes because someone decided ph is the same as f, and that one n in Ana wasn’t enough. Having these common names that can be spelled multiple ways means feeling betrayed when a friend of yours spells it wrong, because how hard is it? However simple my name is to pronounce; it makes up for it in the brain power it takes an American to understand it. No, I don’t have a middle name. Yes, I have two last names. No, there is no hyphen in my name. Yes, they are both my first name. Yes, I go by both names, because would you go by Ma if your name was Maddie?

               Having two last names is something Americans cannot comprehend. This is why it is always a 50% shot that my full name will be announced at sporting events, in brochures, or in the yearbook. My mom tends to get mad at me, claiming I was “too lazy” to fill in my full name on registration sheets and that is why her last name is disregarded as the laziness or ignorance of others is the reason they choose to leave out parts of my name. Americans tend to rationalize to themselves that the Sofia and Gomez in my name are just decoration and I accidentally put Sofia in the first name slot instead of the middle name and Gomez was just a suggestion.

               Being Latina means easily finding your name anywhere since it is the longest one, but it also means running out of room on name slots, paying more money for customized team merch, and having your name cut off on scoreboards because it doesn’t fit. It also means the likelihood that you must pay attention to multiple names increases. My name is Ana Sofia Hernandez Gomez. But I turn my head for Ana, Sofia, Ana Sofia, Ana Hernandez, and Ana Hernandez Gomez. This does not mean I don’t like my name. Americans often assume I find my name a hassle or I don’t like it. There's a lot of projection going on when THAT happens. I frequently get asked which first and last name I would go by if I had the choice. That’s a stupid question in my opinion. What am I a superhero? Why are you asking me that as if I’m dissatisfied with my name? After all, why would I introduce myself in full if that is not exactly the name I want you to know me by?

Comments

  1. Arya ShahMarch 10, 2024 at 5:08 PM

    Your style is so prominent in your post I can hear you speaking as I'm reading it. As someone with a foreign but short name this was actually really eye-opening. I'm definitely going to read your blogs more often.

    ReplyDelete

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