By Jami Nakamura Lin

May 5, 2020

Beginning with simply the title and the author’s name we can already make some important inferences about what narrative this article will take. The author’s name, Jami Nakamura Lin, has a Japanese root that sheds some light on the type of culture in danger of being erased in the eyes of the author. A simple search of the author confirms her heritage and reveals a strong history of publications about her culture and mythology. Personally I would not wish to name any child after myself or another family member, primarily because I would want them to be entirely their own person with nothing for them to worry about living up to. An inherited name can place great burdens on people to prove themselves because they feel as though if they fail to do so it would be a dishonor to their namesake. A second issue, noted by the author this time, is one of pure convenience. No one wants to write down four to five names every time they are forced to fill out some paperwork. I know that it gets tedious for myself just writing initials at times, so I could not imagine needing to sign off with that many names. Later in the article she acknowledges the ludicrousness of wanting all of her ancestors’ names included in her daughter’s, but in fairness why wouldn’t you want everyone to be appreciated / remembered? One issue I take with her wishing to represent every from previous generations of her family is that she admits, “Our names are often fundamental parts of our identities,” (Lin 1) and yet fails to realize that maybe her kid just wants to be her own person, free of any expectations or memories that she wasn’t there to make. In the seventh paragraph of the article she references how her, “white-presenting cousin(whose “normal” middle name, Colin, I had envied as a child) changed his middle name to Nakamura as well,” (Lin 2). This particular name change was made to help him feel more connected to his culture unlike many changes that we see in the States that are made to be more “Americanized”. Those changes to be more “American” were direct results of the horrific history in the Japanese interment camps constructed because of Americans ignorance and racist beliefs. It was/is more likely to be considered for a position if the surname was that of a white person. To less of an extent, generations back my family name went under a change from Mulvaney to Gould for an aid to the assimilation into American culture. I personally don’t feel strongly connected to any Irish roots that I have and that may be partially due to my name bearing no significance to my ancestors. I believe that it entirely relies on upbringing though. My family wasn’t the type to pass stories down from generation to generation and that most certainly severed the connection. If Lin wanted her daughter to understand the history behind her family then she could just talk to her about it.