Priscilla Guerrero says, “I wish I could change my name.” “I don’t like my name.” “They never have my name on souvenirs.”
These are all complaints I’ve heard my sister says when she talks about her name.

When people ask, how or why did your parents chose your name, there is not always an explanation. Well you see, I cannot exactly answer that, so a reliable source is parents.

But when people ask, do you wish you had a different name, that is a question we can answer. Not everybody’s name is on souvenirs, and not everybody has the money to change their name. But everybody has the time to make their name identify them. All your achievements, all your hard work is shown in your name. We don’t grow into our name, our name does not identify who we are. Our names grow into us. As we grow, we experience, we achieve, we learn, we socialize, and create a personality. Weather yours is perky and outgoing or shy and humble, people will be able to tell who we are by our name.

In my culture, people are proud of their roots. Where we are from means the world to us. Sometimes it’s an acceptable neighborhood or maybe a rough neighborhood, but nonetheless, our last name is our root. Our ancestors worked hard for us to be in the position to receive free education, opportunities, and a good lifestyle. We stay humble and achieve more than our ancestors did, because we make the name more valuable, we make the name worth being prideful of. It is how we identify our selves and our family. When we walk out into the street, we are representing our family and our image. One wrong move and the whole neighborhood starts talking, not only about you, but your family.

“Hmm she must come from this family…” “How can her parents let her slip that way?” “How can she disappoint her parents that way?” “Wow, I really thought she knew better.”

Everybody’s culture is different and they have different traditions. But I know of a few, where you actions and decisions influence your family. No body likes hearing their name in a negative sentence. It’s a good feeling when your name makes a sentence positive.

Don’t shame out your name. Accept it. Make something of it. Make others proud to have that name. Make others wish they had that name. But makes sure, that when people say or hear your name, they know who they’re talking about. They know your value, your worth, your achievements, your hard work. Because making your name known and loving your name is a difficult process, and you got to remember, your name holds not only your hard work, but your whole families legacy. It doesn’t have to be a good one, but you can make it one.

Once you graduate, and your name is called, your first thought should be, “Yea I did it.” Then you walk. And people remember your face. Now your known as the one who graduated. It wasn’t easy, there were fails, there were breakdowns, but you pulled through and now you can achieve more things and make your name bigger until it finally grows into your potential.