How Does Names Affect One's Identity?

Identity is very important to people because it is what defines them as individuals. Identity is a complicated topic because there are many questions regarding it and varying opinions. There are many factors that can affect one’s identity.
Names are closely associated with identity. Although a name is just a word used to refer to someone or something, many people are very attached to their names and feel that without their name, they would have no identity. According to R. P. Masani, it is important that people have names because “’personality and the rights and obligations connected with it would not exist without the name.’” (In Bosmajian, pg 78) In “Lost in Translation,” the narrator receives a new name when she comes to America. Although the change from her original name “Ewa” to the

American version, “Eva” is very slight, she writes “Our Polish names didn’t refer to us; they were as surely us as our eyed or hands. These new appellations, which we ourselves can’t yet pronounce, are not us. We walk to our seats, . . . with names that make us strangers to ourselves.” There is a similar situation in “By Any Other Name”, where the young girl receives a new name and feels so detached from it that it is as if she were a different person when called by that name. (Rau, pg 71)
Ones identity can be based on social or economic status. When someone has grown up with less money than others, it can affect them greatly. In “On the Meaning of Plumbing and Poverty,” the fact that the narrator did not have plumbing growing up seemed to affect her identity. She was extremely embarrassed and even in college, she could not relate to the other students who had grown up with plumbing and therefore felt isolated. She says that people “sacrifice their dignity and self respect when forced between going homeless and going to an outhouse” and that some children “think they deserve the conditions in which they live”. (Scheller, pg 154)
Education and identity have an interesting relationship. Society places a large amount of importance on grades and education, so much so that it can be difficult to separate one’s identity with one’s grades. Students who earn poor grades get frustrated or angry because they see it on a more personal level. No one wants to be told that they are a D. In “Suddenly I felt Really Strange” the narrator is working with a student who thinks he deserved a higher grade and he says, “We were discussing his identity and his future. I work hard, he’s really saying to me. . . Can’t you see. I’m not a C-. Don’t tell me Im a C-.” (Rose, pg 96) People with higher grades or education level are more respected and many consider them “better” than others. Students who earn higher grades identify with being “smart” and sometimes look down on others.
Race and family background play a big part in identity. While this does not seem wrong, it can lead to prejudice. Allport writes “Around the age of eight or ten he goes through a period of fierce identification with his family. Whatever the family is, is “right”.” (Allport, pg 157) In many cases, separation between races is caused by the race discriminated against. For instance, if they identify so strongly with their race that they refuse to partake in activities or behaviors that seem “white”, they are causing segregation. Also, if someone identifies with a race that has a certain negative stereotype, they sometimes use it as an excuse for behavior or start to believe that they are inferior. This only perpetuates the stereotype and keeps them from fulfilling their full potential. Steele discusses this problem in his essay “Race-Holding” where he admits that he can see the black students in a class and unfortunately know that “on the last day of the semester a disproportionate number of them will be at the bottom of the class, far behind any number of white students of equal or even lesser ability. More to the point, they will have performed far beneath their own native ability.” (Allport, pg 170)
People who try to move away from identifying with their race and focus on themselves as individuals are often rejected by their race and seen as selfish and a betrayer.

Some recognize the need to put the past behind them and take responsibility for their own actions and create their own identity. A quote from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man says “’Our task is that of making ourselves individuals . . . We create the race by creating ourselves’” (In Steele, pg 172) in “How it Feels To Be Colored Me,” Hurston says that when people reminded her that she was the granddaughter of slaves, it does not upset her because slavery was in the past. (Hurston, pg 119) She says “At certain times, I have no race, I am me.” (Hurston, pg 120) She also gives a description of how she views herself and others by relating people to bags filled with a jumble of miscellaneous objects, and says that she does not think it would matter if there was a little more brown glass in the mixture. (Hurston pg 121) Her description shows our identify as being a part of us when we were born, and also that although we are all individuals and not defined by race, that we are not very different than everyone

else.
Identity can be changed over time and affected by struggles that people go through. One example of that is shown in “You’re Short Besides!” where the narrator was afflicted with polio when she was very young and could not walk very well for the rest of her life. She says “I’ve often wondered if I would have been a different person had I not been physically handicapped.” It seems that to some extent being handicapped did change her, because although she had a very active life, it most likely changed the way she sees handicaps and also caused her to learn to persevere more than she already would have.
Identity is associated with many factors such as names, personality, race, family, economic standing and education. Because these factors can change greatly over time, it is possible for one’s identity to change also. Perhaps because people want to be confident in who they are as individuals, a great amount of importance is often placed on identity.