Day: February 2, 2022

I’ve always thought of my name as unremarkable. In the year that I was born, ‘Emily’ was the most popular name for baby girls. There was always someone in every class that shared my name. I have never felt unique because of my name. No teacher would ever look at my name and be reminded of my two older brothers that they had taught in years prior. Most of the children I was raised with come from families with similar heritage to mine. The German, Irish, and Italian immigrants that came here 2 or 3 generations ago were a part of our past.

I know that I will never experience discrimination in this part of the world because of my name. People here decide who I am before they ever even see me. To them, I am every American woman. I am generic. I could most likely fill in any role that I wanted to. My name will never cause me to lose employment opportunities due to someone else’s prejudice. People immediately know how to pronounce my name when they look at it. I will never have to correct anyone about my name.

I do not allow my name to define me. I am a decidedly unique individual. I am the first in my family to attend a four year university. I am the only person in my family to serve my country while also attending school. I’ve been broken down a number of times, and I have had to build myself back up. Nobody would ever be able to see my strength or my hardship by looking at my name. My Scottish and Irish ancestors escaped famine and genocide, but you can’t look at my name and know that I have Celtic ancestry. I am not the person that society has decided I am automatically because of my name, or my race, or my gender.