What's in an American name?

Before we get to the show, we have some exciting news to share about a chance to experience post-reports live. On April 13, our host, Martin Powers, will be live in conversation with bestselling author Curtis Siddenfeld.

在我们开始演出之前，我们有一些令人兴奋的消息要分享，关于有机会亲临现场体验后续报道。在4月13日，我们的主持人马丁·鲍尔斯（Martin Powers）将与畅销书作家柯蒂斯·锡登菲尔德（Curtis Siddenfeld）进行现场对话。

She's the author of books you might know, like eligible, prep, and American wife. Her latest novel is Romantic Comedy. It tells the story of a late-night comedy writer's search for love. This has this tremendous talent for bringing complex women to life on the page.

她是一位作家，你可能知道她的作品，像《人选》、《备战》和《美国妻子》。她最新的小说是《浪漫喜剧》。它讲述了一个深夜喜剧作家寻找爱情的故事。她有惊人的才华，在页上让复杂的女性形象栩栩如生。

It is on full display in this new book, and Martin has been all about it. The conversation will be live on April 13th at 7pm in Washington, DC at 6th and I in partnership with Politics and Pros. The event will also be live streamed, so there's still an option if you can't make it to DC. You can purchase tickets at 6th and I dot org. We hope to see you there.

这本新书充分展示了它，而马丁一直关注它。我们的讨论将于4月13日晚上7点在华盛顿特区6th和I举行，并与政治和专家合作。活动也将实时直播，如果您无法前往华盛顿特区，仍有选择。您可以在6th and I dot org购买门票。我们希望在那里见到你。

When I think of Ahmed, for me, it's the name that I was called with so many times and so many occasions with so many memories. Ahmed Ibrahim is a mechanical engineer based in New York. He's a really sweet guy. He's chatty and he's open to talking about himself.

当我想起Ahmed时，我会想到那个名字曾经在许多场合，许多时间和许多回忆中被叫过。Ahmed Ibrahim是一位居住在纽约的机械工程师。他是一个真心善良的人。他健谈并且很愿意谈论他自己。

He, like so many other people, has this strong emotional tie to his given name. It's my mom calling my name to share with me good news or my dad yelling at me and he's using the Ahmed, like that's usually what got me off bed, like Ahmed.

他和许多人一样，对自己的名字有着强烈的情感联系。每当我听到妈妈叫我的名字与我分享好消息，或者爸爸因为事情不满而大声喊叫我的时候，我总是感觉他们在召唤"Ahmed"，这也通常是引起我起床的原因。

He's also struggled with this name because, well, he shares a name with one of the hijackers on 9-11. I literally had pseudo control over that name and that's why I get mad at people judging me, but I understand the amount of weight that is attached to such a name.

他也在为这个名字苦苦挣扎，因为呢，他与9-11的一个劫机者同名。我对这个名字的假想控制力实际上很有限，这就是为什么我对别人评判我很生气，但我也理解这个名字所带来的重压之重。

He says being named Ahmed has affected everything from his job searches to his chances of landing a date. Something felt funny about certain people that would just like dissipate or, you know, I would be like, this person is a great match. How come I didn't match that person?

他说，被命名为阿哈迈德影响了他的一切，从找工作到约会机会。有些人让我感到有点奇怪，但很快就会消失，或者，你知道的，我会觉得这个人很适合，但为什么我和他不合适呢？

Ahmed is one of thousands of people who reached out to Washington Post journalist Mary and John Ming-Lio after she wrote a story about how growing up, she felt the need to anglicize her name to fit in. But in the past few years, as she reported on the rise of racist attacks against Asians and Asian Americans, something changed.

艾哈迈德是成千上万人之一，他在华盛顿邮报记者玛丽和约翰明利奥撰写了一篇关于如何在成长过程中为了融入而需要将名字变得更像英文之后联系了他们。但在过去几年中，随着她报道亚洲人和亚裔美国人遭受种族主义攻击的增加，一些事情发生了变化。

I felt that I was being there for my community in covering all these things and giving them a voice, but I wasn't giving myself a voice and I was hiding. I was also ashamed and scared of bearing my full self and after witnessing a racist incident and running away, my husband stopped me and said, we need to stand up and be proud of who we are. And I decided to say no more and include my Chinese name in my byline. So Mary and John Ming-Lio.

我觉得自己一直在为社区报道这些事情，为他们发声，但我没有发出自己的声音，一直在躲避。我也感到羞愧和害怕，不敢展示真正的自我，曾目睹一起种族主义事件并逃离现场，我丈夫拉住我说，我们需要站出来，引以为豪。于是我决定不再沉默，并在我的署名中加入了我的中文名，于是就有了Mary和John Ming-Lio.

The US continues to grow racially and ethnically diverse and you can see that shift unfold in our names. Still, culture wars persist in some ways, pitting Americans against each other, forcing us to consider what makes us American and to wonder what makes a name American at all.

美国继续在种族和民族上不断增加多样性，你可以看到这种变化在我们的名字中展现出来。但是，文化战争在某些方面仍在持续，将美国人对立起来，迫使我们考虑什么才是让我们成为美国人的特征，以及什么才是真正的“美国名字”。

From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. This Friday, March 17th, I'm Chris Velasco, your guest host. Two years ago this week, a 21-year-old gunman in Atlanta massacred eight people in three separate spas. Six of those victims were women of Asian descent.

这是《华盛顿邮报》的新闻室，我是周五，3月17日的客座主持克里斯·维拉斯科。两年前的这个周末，一名21岁的开枪者在亚特兰大的三家不同的温泉浴场里屠杀了8个人，其中6名受害者是亚洲裔女性。

It prompted a wave of reporting about racist attacks and violence and for Mary and it began a deeply introspective churning. Today, Mary and talks with my colleague, Alahe Izadi, about what she discovered on her name journey. And what other people from around the country, like Ahmed, have shared with her along the way.

它引发了一波有关种族主义攻击和暴力的报道，让玛丽开始了深入反省的思考。今天，玛丽和我的同事阿拉伊札迪谈论了她在寻找姓名之旅中所发现的内容，以及与全国其他人如艾哈迈德分享的经验。

So Mary and what has your experience been like since you've decided to use this name in your work? In that story, I included a call out to readers who felt that same need to hide, to anglicize their names to fit in and the response from that was overwhelming.

玛丽，你决定在工作中使用这个名字后，你的经历是怎样的呢？在那个故事中，我向读者发出了呼吁，希望那些感到需要隐藏自己、用英语化名来适应环境的人能够回应，而他们的反应是压倒性的。

How so? I've gotten people emailing, tweeting at me, even stopping me on the street saying thank you for giving them bravery to share and bear their full selves. There was even a movement in New York among some girls and they went on social media with signs showing their names. And it was like over a thousand people just wanting to talk about their name journey and feeling the same as being, being scared before but now, you know, being brave to show who they are.

怎么样？我收到很多人的邮件、推特联系，甚至有人在街上停下来感谢我给予他们勇气去展示自己完整的一面。在纽约, 一些女孩们甚至发起了一场运动，在社交媒体上展示自己的名字，像有超过一千人都想谈论他们的名字之旅及在之前感到害怕，但现在他们勇敢地展示自己是谁，感觉相似。

Ironically, even when my story came out and I was being interviewed by different media about the piece, they didn't even ask me out of pronounciate and they would also butcher it. So it's names are tough but they also represent your full selves, your whole identity.

讽刺的是，即使我的故事发表了，并且我被不同的媒体采访谈论这件事情，他们甚至没有问我如何发音，也会搞砸它。所以，名称虽然困难，但也代表着你们完整的自我，你们的整个身份。

So wait, just so I'm clear, you go to do interviews and it's a story about your name and you've had the experience people don't even ask you to pronounce it. I mean, I think that's actually pretty interesting that you had this mixed response and experience because I think that sort of captures what it is like walking around in this country with a name that a lot of people here are unfamiliar with, find it difficult to pronounce.

等一下，让我明白一下，你去做采访，这是一个关于你名字的故事，你曾经遇到过人们甚至不会要求你发音的经历。我的意思是，我觉得这实际上非常有趣，因为我认为这种经历捕捉了在这个国家走路时拥有很多人不熟悉、难以发音的名字是什么样子的感觉。

I have to say your story really did resonate with me. My name is Ella Haye, that is my given name. I didn't always go by that though and it's a decision I made years ago.

我得说，你的故事真的和我很有共鸣。我的名字是Ella Haye，这是我取的名字。然而，我并没有一直都用这个名字，这是我几年前做的一个决定。

Can you tell me the story about your name? Well, so my name is Ella Haye, which means goddess, which is kind of intense. I actually growing up thought it meant angel but I wonder if that's because my parents didn't want it to get to my head. But yeah, it's also I'm Iranian so it's an Iranian name.

你能给我讲讲关于你名字的故事吗？嗯，我的名字是艾拉·海伊，意思是女神，有点强烈了。我从小以为它的意思是天使，不过我想可能是因为我的父母不想让我骄傲自大吧。而且，我的名字是伊朗名字，因为我是伊朗人。

But anyway, it is a name that has a lot of meaning for me. It was a name that really came out of my father because there's this song that he loved when my mother was pregnant with me and it's Ella Haye knows. So I was named after this song and he would always sing it growing up. And so that's a name that carries a lot of emotional resonance for me.

无论如何，这个名字对我来说有着很深的意义。这个名字实际上源自于我父亲，因为当我母亲怀孕时，有一首他非常喜欢的歌曲叫做Ella Haye Knows。所以我就是以这首歌的名字命名的，而我父亲在我成长的日子里也常常唱这首歌。因此这个名字对我来说承载了很多情感共鸣。

But growing up, my parents basically gave me a nickname, a shortened version of Ella Haye because they figured, oh, you know we're in America, people can't pronounce this name. So we want to make your life easier. And it wasn't until college when I took a class in Persian Studies class where I was in a classroom setting where there was a professor who said my real name and could say it correctly. And it was like the first time I was in a setting like that where I heard that you know it was always growing up like when the teacher calls role and they start pausing and like, oh, that's me.

在我成长的过程中，我的父母基本上给我起了一个昵称，这是Ella Haye的缩写，因为他们认为，在美国，人们无法发音这个名字。所以我们想让你的生活更容易一些。直到我上大学时参加了一门波斯语研究课程，我才在一个课堂环境中听到教授正确地念出了我的真名。这是我第一次身处这样的环境，在那里我听到我的名字时总是能听到老师叫姓名时停顿和说：“哦，那是我”。

So that was like such a big moment for me and I decided then in my personal and professional life, I'm going to go by my real name and this is really who I am. Like you know, it's also been a mixed experience but I'm largely glad I did this and Maryann, I do wonder how common this experience is in the United States. How many other people have stories like this given the broader demographic changes in this country?

那时对我来说是一个非常重要的时刻，我决定在我的个人和职业生活中都使用我的真实姓名，因为这就是真正的我。虽然这个经历是有好有坏的，但总体来说我很高兴能做出这个决定。Maryann，我也在想在美国这种情况有多普遍。在这个国家的广泛人口变化中，还有多少人有类似的故事呢？

That's a really beautiful story. And one that is similar to the readers I interviewed, one that I talked to a 17 year old Natalie was named after Natalie Portman because her parents, immigrants from Vietnam were worried that they would go through what the dad did, the racism and the discrimination. So they gave her a white name and they said that she should feel lucky for that.

这是一个真的很美的故事，跟我采访的读者们很相似。其中有一个17岁的姑娘，叫娜塔莉，她的名字是因为她的父母是越南移民，担心自己的孩子也会像父亲一样遭遇种族歧视和歧视，所以给她取了一个白人名字，并告诉她为此应该感到幸运。

And actually a recent study by Stephen Wu of Hamilton College and Chica of Vassar College found that the harder a name is to announce the tougher it can be for someone to find a job that this name can signal your race or ethnicity and reveal potential subconscious bias. So definitely how your name is, how it's spelled, how it's pronounced, can signal a lot.

其实，哈密尔顿学院的Stephen Wu及瓦萨学院的Chica最近进行的一项研究表明：一个名字越难发音，这个名字所代表的种族或族裔就越容易被人识别，从而揭示出潜在的无意识偏见，这对于找工作的人来说更加困难。因此，你的名字、拼写和发音都可以传递很多信息。

Right. It's not enough that we have to fit in like how we look but how we present when we introduce ourselves and even on paper. Maryann, a lot of people as you said reached out to you for this story and you also spoke with someone who had sort of a reverse experience where he decided to go by an anglicized name, right.

嗯，我们不仅要长得适应，还要在介绍自己甚至在纸上呈现时，以怎样的方式呈现自己。玛丽安，像你说的，很多人联系你来提供这个故事，你还和一个人谈过他有一个相反的经历，他决定使用一个英式化的名字，对吧？

Can you tell me about him? So Akban was born in Egypt and immigrated to the US at 19. He's now 33 and he literally A.B. tested his name. My name is Ahmad, Ahmad Rahim and I go by Aiden. The reason why I go by Aiden is an amalgamation of a joke that started with a joke to actually a really, really, really deep and sad reason. And so what was the joke and the sad reason?

你能告诉我关于他的情况吗？所以，Akban出生在埃及，19岁移民到了美国。他现在33岁，并且他实际上是通过A.B.测试了他的名字。我的名字是Ahmad，Ahmad Rahim，但我使用的是Aiden。为什么我使用Aiden是因为这是一个笑话，从一个笑话开始，实际上是一个非常，非常，非常深刻和悲伤的原因。那么这个笑话是什么，悲伤的原因呢？

Akman was on dating apps and he wasn't getting matches and he tried something else. So his roommate that he changed to something more quote, American, he'll get more matches. And I changed from Ahmad to Aiden, I just, my roommate at the time, do you really bet that it's the name? You know, actually he's the one who said, well, who wants to swipe right on a terrorist, right? Like Ahmad Rahim. So he's air like me so he gets to make a joke like this.

Akman在使用约会应用程序时没有得到匹配，于是他尝试了别的办法。于是他的室友建议他改用更具美国特色的名字，这样就可以得到更多匹配。而我也从Ahmad改成了Aiden，当时正是我的室友，你真的敢打赌这就是名字的原因吗？你知道，事实上是他说的，“谁想跟一个恐怖分子右滑呢？就像Ahmad Rahim一样。” 所以他和我一样风趣，可以开这样的玩笑。

So I went and I changed my name. Everything stayed the same, the pictures. So I went to sleep that day and I was like, okay, I'm going to change it. We'll see what it is. I woke up the next day and my matches just, it was dopamine overload and I was like, holy cow, I have so many notifications and I opened it and lo and behold, my matches are just out of control.

所以我去改了我的名字，除了照片之外，一切都还是一样的。那天晚上我去睡觉了，我想，“好吧，我要改名字，我们来看一下结果。”第二天早上我醒来了，我的匹配数量超出预期，我就像过度分泌多巴胺一样，我惊呆了，我的通知那么多啊！我打开了匹配界面，结果惊人！

So so wow, like here he's saying when he was Ahmad, he wasn't getting very many matches but he got way more as Aiden and it was just so such a stark contrast. I'm wondering what other changes did he notice when he started to go by Aiden? Even when he was trying to drive on Uber, people were canceling on him to the point where when he tried something else, more American, it totally reversed and instead of being canceled, then passenger gave him free burning man tickets as a driver someone offered him burning man tickets.

哇，听起来挺有趣的。他说当他叫阿迈德的时候，没有得到很多匹配，但是当他改用艾登的名字时，匹配数量增加了很多，两者之间的对比非常明显。我在想，他还注意到了其他哪些变化呢？即使他试图在优步上开车，人们也一直在取消订单，直到他换了一些更符合美国文化的东西，情况完全逆转了，乘客不再取消订单，反而给了他免费的 Burning Man 车票，这个人还提供给他一些 Burning Man 车票，看来他在司机行业也芝加哥了一些成功哦。

And everything else was easier and even though he loves his name, he just goes by Aiden, even down to his email. It's not about pronouncing his name right, it's the connotations it has because one of the hijackers from 9-11 shares the same name. The fact that I was born and haven't chosen that name, I literally had zero control over that name. And that's why I get mad and people judge me but I understand the amount of weight that is attached to such a name and all of that..

其他所有的事情都容易得多，即使他喜欢自己的名字，但在网上，他只使用"Aiden"这个名字。这不是为了正确发音，而是因为一个9-11的劫机者也叫同样的名字。我出生时并没有选择这个名字，我完全没有控制这个名字。这就是为什么我会生气，人们会评判我，但我也理解这个名字所带来的负面影响和压力。

And I want the people to look at me and consider me someone called Ahmad, wow, that's different but consider me a blank page, don't put predeterminations on me. That is what I really would love. And sadly, when I used Aiden, it gave me that. Marianne just hearing him, it's his story, it's so many other people's stories where they didn't choose their names but they also didn't choose the like broader circumstances that they were born into and just the sort of like prejudice that can go along with having certain names and having to walk through the world with those names.

我希望人们看着我，想到一个叫阿迈德的人，哇，这很不同，但请认为我是一张空白的纸，不要给我先入为主的印象。那是我真正希望的。可悲的是，当我用艾登这个名字时，它给了我这个先入为主的印象。玛丽安只是听他说话，这是他的故事，也是许多其他人的故事，他们没有选择自己的名字，但他们也没有选择自己出生时的更广泛的环境条件，以及在拥有某些名字并带着这些名字行走于世界时所面临的偏见。

But I'm also like thinking about this idea of going by a nickname or an anglicized name and I'm thinking about how for generations, immigrants have come to this country and change their names or their names were changed for them. Maybe in more recent years they would go by and people go by these other names because it's like a matter of convenience when you're moving to a new country, maybe you don't know the language and you just need to make it in this country. So the name thing might just not be on your top list of priorities and I'm wondering if some of these conversations that you've been having if they're like with a younger generation who maybe were born here or are you know of a different era and in some ways it's like maybe even a privilege that they have the opportunity to go by their real names and insist on doing so. I'm wondering have you seen that in your reporting?

但我也在想到这个用化名或被英语化的名字的想法，我在思考移民们世世代代来到这个国家会改变他们的名字或者他们的名字会被改变。也许在最近几年，人们会用其他的名字，因为当你移民到一个新的国家时，这样做非常方便，也许你不懂语言，只需要在这个国家生存下去。所以名字这件事也许并不是你最关心的事情，我想知道你最近的这些谈话是否是与年轻一代进行的，他们可能在这里出生或者处于不同的时代，某些方面来说，他们甚至有机会使用真实的名字并坚持这样做，这也许是一种特权。我想知道你在报道中是否看到过这样的情况？

Yeah, I talked to a lot of genealogists and they mentioned a pattern, a trend that when immigrants first come to this country they might be fleeing or leaving something horrible or traumatic or coming here for better opportunities and they want to forget the past, they don't want anything to do, they want to cut ties. Why would they want anything, they want to make their lives easier, also they might put their heads down and just want to succeed. And then the later generations kind of miss and kind of want to know what happened before.

是啊，我和很多家谱学家交谈过，他们提到了一个模式，一种趋势，那就是当移民们初次来到这个国家时，他们可能在逃离某些可怕或创伤的事情，或是来这里寻求更好的机会，他们想要忘记过去，不想与之有任何关系，想要切断联系。他们为什么还要想那些事情呢，他们想要让自己的生活变得更容易，也许他们会低头努力，只想成功。而后代则会想念并想要了解之前发生了什么。

Even this one genealogist was saying her grandmother was like why do I want to remember all that? There was a reason why I left that. So that follows their name journey too. One person I talked to, his name is Jaime, he's named after his father who's also Jaime goes by Jim just because it's easier for business and did not think of it as reclaiming let it go or anything just easier.

即使这个家谱学家也在说，她的祖母就像在问我为什么要记得那些事情？我离开那里有一个原因。所以这也符合他们的名字之旅。我和一个名叫Jaime的人交谈过，他的名字是以他父亲的名字命名的，他的父亲也叫Jaime，但是为了方便生意而改称Jim，他并没有考虑要收回或放弃，只是为了方便。

After the break we head to high school. Marion talks to us about how 117 year old is using her name to suss out her true friends. We'll be right back.

休息后我们来到高中。玛丽安给我们讲述了一位117岁老人是如何用她的名字来寻找真正的朋友的。我们很快回来。

Marian I know that you talked to a lot of young people for your reporting. Can you tell me more about the stories they shared with you? So there is this 117 year old, a senior in high school out of Irvine, California, Sumena and her parents put a lot of thought into her name. But she said little did they know they would give her a lifetime of never fitting in.

我知道你采访了很多年轻人。可以告诉我他们与你分享了什么故事吗？ 有这么一个117岁的高中生来自加州尔湾，名叫苏梅娜。她和父母很用心地给她取了个名字，但她说她们并不知道这个名字会给她带来一辈子的不适应。

My name is Sumena and Yana Shenmuegan. The story behind my name is that my parents use numerology which is sort of like you go to an Indian like astrologist slash numerologist and then you like find the specific time that you're born, they align it with a certain star and then based off of that they like designate like what type of sound your name should include or like should start with. So like for me the priest said Sue so they had to find a name that started with Sue. So then for me they decided between many names but they ended up choosing Sumena.

我叫Sumena和Yana Shenmuegan。我的名字背后的故事是，我的父母使用了数字学，有点像你去找印度占星家/数字学家，然后找到你出生的具体时间，将其与某个星座对齐，然后根据此来指定你的名字应包含什么类型的声音或以什么字母开头。所以，对于我来说，神父说Sue，他们必须找到一个以Sue开头的名字。所以，他们在很多名字之间做了决定，但最终选择了Sumena。

I mean that's really beautiful because you know some people they like are like panicking. Oh we need to pick a name just like how can we pick a name and hear her parents put so much thought into this name and you know and now have bestowed it upon her. So what has her experience been like with this name? It's been really tough. She's been called all sorts of things and to an extent she lets it happen just to get through the day.

我的意思是，真的很美，因为你知道有些人很紧张。哦，我们需要选一个名字，我们怎么能选一个名字呢？她的父母为这个名字花了很多心思，现在把它给了她。那么她用这个名字的经历是怎样的呢？这真的很艰难。她被称呼了各种各样的东西，有时候她让它发生是为了度过这一天。

So I get Sumena, Sumona, Sumona, Sumona. Like with the range of like so many people at my school and how many interactions I have daily like I don't know I go to an academically competitive school like these kids are writing AP literature essays, deconstructing like big pieces of literature and we know your smart we know you're capable but like it's literally just the fact that you don't want to put the effort.

所以我遇到了苏梅纳、苏莫娜、苏莫娜、苏莫娜等等人。就像在我学校里有这么多人，我每天有很多互动，我不知道，我上的是一个学术竞争激烈的学校，这些孩子们正在写AP文学论文，解构大部头的文学作品，我们知道你们聪明，我们知道你们有能力，但是实际上你们不想付出努力罢了。

And also I'm a senior and I'm about to graduate so I just feel like it would be a waste of time to just correct everyone and make it a thing to like teach them properly because I feel like half the people will hear it and then they still won't get it but they'll think that they're saying you're right right because I taught them so I don't know I just thought it was sort of futile to just make that effort.. I could focus on other things instead.

我是一位快要毕业的大四学生，而且也觉得只是纠正每个人的错误发音和教授正确发音似乎有点浪费时间，因为我感觉有一半的人即使听了我讲解，仍然不会发出正确的音，但是他们会认为他们是对的，因为我教过他们，所以我觉得这样做有点无济于事。我可以把精力放在其他事情上。

I okay I really relate to this because you know my name is one that when people look at it they just I think their brains there's a short while like they go goes a little like haywire which I totally like have empathy for but at the same time when you do have a name like what we're hearing her describe what it means is you have to spend a lot of time out of your day correcting people bringing it up and that's like real like emotional labor and just like actual time that you're spending and I get why she is feeling like you know what I just have better things I can do with my time I don't even want to bother with it but I've also you know I've had the experience where when people find out that I've been letting them say my name incorrectly they get mad at me too so I don't know if she has that experience but it's just kind of like this thing of okay what battle do I want to pick today is this really worth it for me if I want to like claim this name that I think so beautiful and meaningful for me the real world implication of that is I will be spending a lot of time correcting people or just people asking me all sorts of questions like where you from where were you born and I'm like are you trying to get answers to my credit card security question so she actually uses her name is kind of a litmus test like do you really care are you really my friend if they actually care about me in a way like the true friends I have in my life right now like at least one point in the time that we were friends they've asked me how do you pronounce your name are like how do your parents say it because I know you say that you're fine with everything but I feel like you aren't so I want you to teach me I really respect people in my life who take the time to do that it's almost like a way of showing courtesy and respect and care right.

我非常理解这个问题，因为我的名字也常常让人们感到困惑，看到我的名字，他们的头脑会一瞬间变得混乱。我完全同情这种感受，但与此同时，当你拥有像她所描述的名字时，你不得不花费很多时间来纠正人们的发音，这实际上是一种情感和真正时间的付出。我理解她的感受，也明白她为什么觉得她的时间有更好的用处，不想再纠结在这个问题上。但我也曾经历过这样的经历，当人们发现我让他们一直错发我的名字时，他们会生气，所以我不知道她是否有这样的经历，但有时候我也会考虑这样一个问题，我今天要选择争取哪一场斗争，这对我真的值得吗？如果我想要为我认为美丽而有意义的名字而奋斗，那么这就意味着我将花费很多时间来纠正别人或回答各种问题，例如：“你来自哪里？你出生在哪里？”我不知道他们是否试图获取我的信用卡安全问题的答案，因此她实际使用她的名字来检验一下：“你真的在乎我吗？你真的是我的朋友吗？”那些真正关心我的朋友们，在我们相识的某个时候，都会问我如何发音我的名字或我的父母如何发音，因为我知道你说一切都好，但我感觉你并不是这样，所以我想你教教我。我非常尊重在我生命中的这些人，他们花时间这样做，这几乎是一种礼貌、尊重和关心的表现。

Yeah I think Summoner and other people said though your name is like your cocoon it's your son is your north star it's your identity and when people can't even say your name at the very least they're disrespecting you of who you are you're very core Mary and I'm wondering if you can tell me a little bit more about your take away after hearing back from so many people who wanted to share their experiences with their names from people who wanted to reclaim their name the way that you did to people who had very valid reasons as to why they went by and decided to go by anglicized names has that changed your perspective on this issue of like a name journey.

我认为Summoner和其他人说过，你的名字就像你的茧，而你的儿子则是你的北极星，它代表了你的身份。当别人连你的名字都不能说对，至少他们是在不尊重你的核心，Mary，我想知道你在听了这么多人想分享他们有关名字的经历之后的想法。从那些想跟你一样重拾自己名字的人到那些有着非常合理的原因选择用英语名的人，这些人是否改变了你对这个名字旅程问题的看法？

I think it's definitely a journey and not a destination it's something you get used to it's almost like your name is like that pair of jeans that you have to wear in and you have to feel comfortable it's like an analogy for getting comfortable in your skin and not everybody will do that right away it's hard to find a perfect pair of jeans and I was surprised that we're not as far as I thought we would be that there is not acceptance and yet we've come farther than say my mom's generation where her name is Juan in W8N I N and her professor in grass school was like you're a Wanda now and she just took it she just took it without questioning but I think younger generations and even newer immigrants are now not taking it like Sumata didn't change her name she's you know still goes by her name and that's her name so they're not changing it to fit in they're defending it I think that it's the acceptance that still has a little bit more to go yeah and just hearing your reporting it does make me think that there are so many people who are walking that journey and wanting to reclaim their names or are having these experiences but that you know maybe the idea of an American name will change do you think that's true do you think that in however many years like the idea that these names would be just as American as like Jim and Sue that these names are just as American as those exactly.

我觉得这绝对是一次旅程而不是终点，这是一件你适应的东西，就像你必须穿的那条牛仔裤一样，你必须穿着感觉舒适，这就像是适应自己的比喻，而不是每个人都能一下子做到，很难找到一条完美的牛仔裤，而我很惊讶我们并没有像我所想的那么远，现在还没有完全接受，但我们已经比我妈妈那一代走得更远，她的名字是Juan，她就被她的教授改名为W8NIN了，而她只是悄悄地接受了。但我认为年轻一代甚至是新移民现在不会改名了，就像Sumata没有改名，她仍然用她的名字，那是她的名字，所以他们不会为了融入而改名，他们会维护自己的名字。我认为仍然需要更多的接受，听到你的报道让我想到有这么多人正在走这条路，想要重新拥有自己的名字或有这样的经历，但你知道，也许“美国名字”的概念会改变，你认为是这样的吗？你认为在未来的几年里，这些名字会和Jim和Sue一样被看作是美国名字吗？没错。

I mean, if people are naming their kids Daenerys from Game of Thrones and people can pronounce that, then of course names will change and they'll have to because demographics are changing. America is changing. Thank you so much for joining us today.

我是说，如果人们把自己孩子取名为《权力的游戏》中的 Daenerys，而人们能够正确地发音，那么肯定会有名字的变化，必须要有，因为人口构成正在发生变化。美国正在改变。非常感谢你今天的加入。

Thank you so much to Marion Jiaming Leo, who writes for "About Us," a newsletter at the Post that covers race and identity. She spoke to my colleague Alahe Zadi. If you have a name story that you want to share, Marion would love to hear from you.

非常感谢玛丽昂·贾明·罗（Marion Jiaming Leo），她是《关于我们》的撰稿人，这是邮报的一份报道种族和身份的新闻简报。她与我同事Alahe Zadi交谈过。如果你有一个名字故事想要分享，玛丽昂很乐意听取。

Help our reporting on how names contribute to our identities by calling 202-334-7060.

请拨打电话202-334-7060帮助我们报道名字如何对我们的身份做出贡献。

That's it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening.

这就是本期的报道内容，谢谢你的收听。

Today's show was produced by Christina Toshiko Quinn. It was edited by Arena Flores and mixed by Sam Bear. Our team includes Maggie Pennman, Arena Flores, Ted Maldon, Martin Powers, Alahe Zadi, Lucy Perkins, Eliza Dennis, Alana Gordon, Ariel Plotnik, Arjun Singh, Jordan Marie Smith, Renys Frenovsky, Sabi Robinson, Emma Talkov, Sean Carter, and Renita Jablonsky.

今天的节目是由Christina Toshiko Quinn制作。编辑是由Arena Flores完成，Sam Bear进行混音。我们的团队包括Maggie Pennman、Arena Flores、Ted Maldon、Martin Powers、Alahe Zadi、Lucy Perkins、Eliza Dennis、Alana Gordon、Ariel Plotnik、Arjun Singh、Jordan Marie Smith、Renys Frenovsky、Sabi Robinson、Emma Talkov、Sean Carter和Renita Jablonsky。

I'm Chris Tamayo Velasco. We'll be back Monday with more stories from The Washington Post.

我是Chris Tamayo Velasco。下周一，我们会回来，为大家带来更多来自《华盛顿邮报》的故事。