A Rose Not By Any Other Name

America, Say My Name by Viet Thanh Nguyen
New York Times, March 9, 2019

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A few sentences into famed author Viet Thanh Nguyen's latest op-ed, some of us will immediately empathize with his struggle: if I don't have a "typical" American name, will I take on a nickname? If my name is hard to pronounce, will I use a simpler name when I order coffee at Starbucks? Others will recall the time we mispronounced a student's name on the first day of class, or when a nickname appeared on a class roster and we weren't sure which name the student wanted us to use. Nguyen recalls his own ongoing struggle with his name: on the one hand, his name anchors him to his family and his history as a Vietnamese refugee; on the other, he was teased for his name as a child, and it's still often mispronounced and misspelled, even by people who laud his work. He discusses his ultimate choice to forgo a more traditional American name, and he expresses empathy for young people he meets who still have to wrangle with that difficult choice. As our schools become more racially and ethnically diverse – and for some of us, as our schools include more and more of an international presence – Nguyen's article reminds us of the small but powerful daily struggles of minority groups in communities with long-standing expectations and traditions. It serves as a powerful call to action for us as educators: we can make the effort to say and write our students' names correctly, and in small ways, we can celebrate the range of names our students will use.