One theme illustrated in this story is that what people call you shouldn’t change who

you are. In the narrative, Julia is a girl who has moved from the Dominican Republic to
New York City with her family. When there, many people pronounce her and her
family’s names wrong. For example,at the beginning in the first paragraph right when
her family had arrived, the immigration officer had pronounced her father’s name,
Mister Elbures, wrong. The text states, “I was too afraid we wouldn’t be let in if I
corrected the man’s pronunciation, but I said our name to myself, opening my mouth
wide for the organ blast of the a. trilling my tongue for the drumroll of the r, All-vab-rrr-
es!” . At first Julia wants to correct the officer for pronouncing her father’s name wrong,
but then she repeats it to herself, reminding her how sweet the name actually is. She is
apprehensive that their original names will be forgotten with everybody pronouncing
and changing them. She realizes that it doesn't matter what people call you with her
mother reminding her, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Paragraph
4). Both of these examples demonstrate to Julia that she should not be concerned
when people mispronounce her name. As a result, Julia is encouraged by her parents
example that people pronouncing your name wrong doesn’t change who you are.

As you can see, one of the themes in Names/Nombres is that it is okay to go by

different names, but try not to forget who you truly are. At the end of the story, Julia is
happy that she has so many names when her friends from highschool sign her
yearbook with her many nicknames and they have a great time doing so. Even though
she is embracing her nicknames she still appreciates her heritage and original name.

I would encourage you not to let what people call you affect the way you see yourself. I
used to not like it when other people called me by nicknames, but then I realized that it
was fun to have different names with different people because their would be a story
behind each name. And remember, like Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.¨