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Installation view for Exhibition: "Negotiating Culture", Curated by Soheila Esfahani.

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Names series. Installation view for Exhibition: "Negotiating Culture", Curated by Soheila Esfahani.

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The name that is given to a newborn baby conveys many meanings, such as good wish, hope and expectation from the parents and family, marks of the generations and birthplace. It often contains ethnic, gender, cultural and historical information as well. By simply writing in a different language, the name’s meaning can be changed and some of the original information can be lost in the translation. When an immigrant enters a new country, this translation becomes the legal name on formal documents.

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Due to various reasons, choosing a local name to use as preferred name at school and workplace becomes common. This adopted name is chosen for the convenience of a new language environment, to embody different social identity and culture adaptation resulting from globalization. The preferred name that conveys different meanings from the original one expresses both the excitement and anxiety of the new identity the name brings.

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You can leave your names and/or the reasons behind them on this Padlet site. With your consent, the collection of preferred English names and legal names in English may be used in my future artworks of the series "Name".

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Grace Her

Txaussab Hawj

My parents gave me the name because they wanted a child for many years. When I was born, they decided to give me a Hmong name called “Txaussab” because they were filled with contentment.

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My parents had different ideas about naming children. I am the first born. My mom, whose middle name is Rae, wanted something “different” (this was 1968). There was a Playboy Bunny at the time named Megan and my dad liked her (read the magazine for the articles). So, they came to a meeting in the middle and Raegan it was!

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My full name is Jacqueline Helen Mason and I go by Jacqui. My name is a mix of names from my mom and dad's side. My first name is after my french grandma on my dad's side and my middle name is after my grandama ma on my mom's side (also translating to Ilonka in hungarian). However, my sister and I have opposite names, her's being Ilonka Jacqueline Mason. Both of our names represent each others as well as our grandmothers and their heritage. And funny enough my youngest sister is named Rose Julia Mason - Rose is named after my mom Roseann and Julia is named after my mom's grandma.

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My parents were devout Mormons for the most of my early childhood. We were the only Mormons in my family. This was one of the main reasons why my parents named me Joseph, after the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. Only after my Mom died, my Dad and I became increasingly more distant from the Mormon community. Strangely, I had always attended a Catholic school my entire life and accustomed myself to singing the catholic church liturgy during weekly school masses. Growing up everyone called me Gabriel including distant family relatives after the archangel Gabriel. I’m more used to Gabriel nowadays and identify myself as more catholic than Mormon. In the future, I plan on changing my legal first name to Gabriel which has always been my middle name.

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My parents chose to name me Kye, as it is a name that is common in both Japanese and English. They chose this name so that I can blend in both languages.

However, my parents decided to change things up in the spelling of my name. Kye is usually spelled as “Kai” in English, but they chose “Kye” instead.

In addition, my Japanese character for my name is not typical. Normally, for people named Kai/Kye, the character 「海」is used. This means “the ocean”, and places such as Hawaii have the same meaning for Kai/Kye. However, my parents chose 「開」 which means “to open” or “open” and can also be pronounced as Kye/Kai, but is not usually used for names.

I am not sure why my parents chose to spell my name as such, but alas, that is my name.

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My parents didn’t really think of naming me after anything special. I was named last minute and they were quickly debating between Nancy or Merna because in Egypt, that’s the names of two famous individuals. They ended up choosing Merna because I also had the same middle name as this one celebrity (which is my father’s first name), so I guess they found that interesting even though they weren’t huge fans.

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My parents named me Natalie but always call me Nat. My kindergarten teacher heard my parents call me Nat once and told them they should always refer to a child by their given legal name. They continued to call me Nat.

Most everyone who is close to me, friends with me, or have known me a long time call me Nat. Not because I ask them to, they just do. Nat is a shortened version of my name, but also a nickname. Although not culturally or ethnically significant, and more of a nickname, I identify more with Nat than Natalie and consider Natalie more of my "professional" name.

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My name is Khadijah, which is a common name in both Farsi and Arabic. I was named after a woman famous for being a successful entrepreneur and of scriptural significance. Outside of my immediate family and close friends, I'm used to my name being mispronounced. To be honest, my extended family struggle with it too! My American relatives often mispronounce the initial "Kh" sound, while my Iranian relatives use the Farsi version of Khadijeh, though I go by the Arabic pronunciation. Born and raised in Canada, as well as living in Japan for 8 months, I've been asked many times if I have a nickname that "is easier". My response is always no, and while I don't mind if the pronunciation is not 100% accurate, I don't like the lack of effort that is displayed when one makes this request on first meeting. However, it can often serve as an icebreaker and lead to many interesting conversations, and I continue to be proud of my name and the part it plays in my identity.