If someone asked you to choose one word to describe you, what would you pick? A character trait? Your favorite hobby? What you are most known for?
What if you chose your name? For some, names are just a title that they associate with. For others, names represent their family, culture, and ethnicity. In a single word, your name can sum up your identity, and it is noticeable when people acknowledge that.
In middle school, I remember watching a TED Talk led by a woman who started off stage. She first described herself to the crowd by listing the activities she was involved in as a senior in high school. She then stated her full name to the audience: Kate Rosalyn Matthews.
After asking the viewers to visualize what they thought she would look like, she stepped onto the stage revealing herself to the contrasting image everyone had pictured in their mind.
What Matthews described in her talk was the unintentional bias that people develop each day. This bias isn’t bad, it just can lead someone to develop false assumptions about a person based on their name, career, profession, appearance, or any other information they learn before actually getting to know the person.
Without realizing, humans think of certain things on the spot after just hearing someone’s name. While we may think of the race or stereotypes associated with the name, it is important to recognize what is behind that person’s name and to understand how much it can mean to them.
Names can be passed down through generations, and can be representative of a person’s culture. Sometimes, just by looking at someone’s last name, you may be able to guess their family’s background. In some situations though, the conclusion you make about a person’s ethnicity may not match their family’s cultural story – or even come close. This is an opportunity for you to connect further with the person about where they are from, and even learn something new about them.
Pronunciation is equally important as the history behind someone’s name. By saying someone’s name correctly, you show them respect. Some names are difficult to pronounce, especially on the spot, but if you correct your mistake, you are showing the person that you care and understand the value of their name.
If it hasn’t happened already, it is likely that you will one day be in a situation where someone either misinterprets your name or the name of someone around you. Whether this is a new student in class, the person in front of you at Starbucks, or the colleague you just met at a job interview, it’s a chance for you to learn more about them and the world around you.
So instead of surprising yourself after you learn that your assumptions you made about a person’s last name were wrong, I encourage you to catch yourself in that unintentional bias and focus on what you can do to make that person feel valued about their name.
Each opinion represented in The Panther Press is the view and voice of the writer. Opinions, as the selection and curation of content by the editors, do not represent the views of the entire Panther Press staff, the adviser, the school, or the administration.
