This Hispanic Heritage Month, Respect Immigrants’ Names

In exchange for legal protection and status, immigrants are required to give up many things. But most precious of all is their names. In Celtic folklore, people were warned that you never tell the fairies your full name. To give your name to the fae was to offer them significant power over you.

The U.S. immigration system emphasizes that failing to give correct information about your name can lead to dire consequences, like having your visa application denied or being accused of fraud. You would hope that this would mean that immigrants’ identities and names would be treated respectfully and with care. Too often, that is not the case.

For example, ever since the TSA began sharing manifest lists with ICE, ICE has arrested people at airports based, among other things, on their names. In one case, ICE arrested a U.S. citizen at the Atlanta International airport because he had the same name and birth date as someone else.

And when it comes to pushing the myth of the “dangerous foreigner” or the “worst of the worst,” immigration authorities drop immigrants’ names altogether, calling them “invaders” or enforcement targets instead. This has been especially true for immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, one way that we can respect and honor immigrants is to respect their names, and their humanity.

Names Tell Our Stories

Across all cultures, our names carry our history, family, and faith traditions. That’s what makes them so rich and unique. They all tell a story about that person.

In Latin America, people regularly use both their maternal and parental last names as part of their full name. It is a unique way to trace family trees. Historically, it was also common for married women to change their second surname to their spouse’s and add the preposition “de” in between the two last names. (“De” means “of” and indicated they were the spouse “of” such and such.) People from Latin American countries also love a variation on names: nicknames. For example, lots of Ignacios go by “Nacho,” and just about every family has that one nickname for a relative that requires knowing an inside joke or two. Love of nicknames extends to Latin America’s favorite sport: fútbol. For example, Lionel Messi’s nickname was “La Pulga” (Flea) for his agility.

But these days in American culture, immigrants’ have often lost their names altogether, lumped under generalized and often racialized terms like “illegals,” “invaders,” and “criminals.” This is done because it’s harder to recognize a person’s individual humanity or the impact of harsh enforcement measures when they don’t even have a name. Take for example how DHS press releases regularly group individuals into menacing categories like “violent assailants” to depict whole nationalities, like in the press release where DHS announced removal flights to Latin American countries. Or how ICE’s detainee death notifications typically always start with “illegal alien passes away…” It’s easier to see these deaths as statistics or to be indifferent to a real person’s pain if there isn’t a name attached to it.

Let’s Honor Immigrants with Their Names

This Hispanic Heritage Month and every month forward, let’s honor all immigrants with their names. As individuals, when you meet a person with an unfamiliar name, resist the urge to automatically shorten their name, turn it into a nickname that’s easier for you to say, or tell them it’s too hard to pronounce. It’s okay to admit that you are struggling with pronunciation and ask for help. For example, I recall observing a woman explain to a new person that her name in Spanish was the name of a flower. This helped the new person understand its meaning and seemed to help her remember the pronunciation.

For the media, make every effort to get someone’s name correct and issue corrections as needed. For example, after an ICE agent killed Johan Sebastíán Duran Guerrero, several outlets initially spelled his name incorrectly. Thankfully, media articles soon thereafter corrected the misspelling. Many of the people who have died in ICE custody this year were from Latin American countries and likely identified as Hispanic/Latinx. Journalists can push for transparency around these deaths, starting with reporting on the person’s full name and the circumstances surrounding their deaths. Recent reporting did just this by preserving and reporting on deleted reviews of deaths in custody that would have otherwise been forgotten or ignored.

These acts and other efforts go beyond mere politeness. They are a powerful form of respect, and making sure that people whose names have been given or taken away retain their stories, their humanity, and their power.