I am an immigrant to the United States. I am originally from the Dominican Republic, immigrated in 2009. The vignette “My Name” echoes with me because when I was in 2nd grade I didn’t like my last name. I didn’t because my classmates were laughing at my last name. I thought I was weird for having “Espinal” as my last name while everyone else had last names like “Smith” and “Johnson.” I remember when the teacher was taking attendance and my name was called, my classmates immediately started to laugh when my last name was said. We were sitting on the rug when the attendance was being taken. I put my head because of the embarrassment I felt hearing the laughter throughout the classroom. After the attendance was taken, my teacher, Ms. Scott had come up to me trying to comfort me. She said “My last name is Scott, like the toilet paper.” She told me if anyone should be laughing, it should be her last name because it is the name of a toilet paper brand. Even with her saying that I still didn’t feel comfortable with my last name because it wasn’t “American” enough. I was two years in this country and it had already affected me. One day, during a quiz, I put the name “Eldred Hardy.” I put the last name “Hardy” because it was the last name of one of my favorite wrestlers, Jeff Hardy. It was my way of fitting in. I dropped my Dominican heritage just to avoid the laughter, just like Esperanza wanting her to change her name to “Zeze the X.”
I find it funny looking back at it now because America is known for it’s diversity and yet, when there isn’t something like a name that isn’t common or is “American” people will make fun of it because it is not something that they see or hear everywhere. A country filled with immigrants, yet not accepting of different cultural backgrounds.
