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

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