Our first names individualize who we are, while our last names are shared names and connected to other people. 

Kamala (Kuhm-uh-luh) is Sanskrit for Nelumbo nucifera or simply lotus flower. The lotus flower symbolizes resilience and strength which Kamala has shown during her journey from her early days as the DA of San Francisco to handling her mother’s passing to her historical win as vice president of the United States and now her presidential nomination. The use of the vice president’s first name makes us feel closer to her and even makes her stand out as a political public figure, compared to her peers who use their last names.

My name is Theodora (Thee-o-door-uh) and I often find hiccups with my Ghanaian middle name, Gyamfuah (Gem-foo-uh), when used in a professional sense. It hurts and it sucks when people butcher your cultural name, especially in public; I feel deeply for Kamala after her presidential nomination because so many parts of her identity were being questioned or dismissed including her name. 

Having your name mispronounced makes you feel like you’re not important – in a personal experience of mine earlier this spring and summer, I had my middle name mispronounced even after multiple conversations and audios on how to say my middle name, and in the end, it was subpar. 

Former President Donald Trump first made hits at his opponent’s name by mispronouncing and stretching the syllables of her name in September 2020 at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and continued this tactic into Vice President Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, her opponent and her supporters made the mispronunciation of her name their weapon. 

“Don’t worry about it – I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it. I couldn’t care less,” Trump said at a July rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

In August, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson mispronounced her name on-air and when corrected he responded with “So what?” and then proceeded to mispronounce it repeatedly. 

Trajan Rehder, a first-year finance major, says that when he introduces himself he takes pride in the uniqueness of his name.

“People are used to names being Zack, Brady, Chad, Lad, Brad and Nad — and so I got a little special sauce on mine. So, I personally appreciate when I have to explain my name. And it gives me a good brand because how many Trajans do you know? I could be named like Henry,” Rehder said. 

A classmate of mine who is an exchange student from the University of Hong Kong uses her English name rather than her Chinese name. Tianyi Lu, or Laura, a third-year psychology student said, “To be honest, I’m okay with using an English name because I have been using it for a long time.” She mentioned previously attending school in the States as a kindergartner and has been using the same English name since then, “…so it feels natural…” to her. 

“It’s okay when people mispronounce my real name because I know it’s hard and Chinese is really different from English.” 

She feels good when her Chinese name is mentioned in an email but hearing her name vocally feels unfamiliar. “Laura is better for convenience.”

“See people always mispronounce my name — hardly people could never say Melika,” Melika Zare said, a first-year film and socio-legal studies student. 

Zare says that it doesn’t really bother her since people almost always attempt to get it right. However, she highlights a time when someone purposely targeted her on an online group chat to make fun of her name. 

“In general, I feel like if people knew how to pronounce my name but they purposely would say it wrong just to spite me, it would hurt my feelings a lot.”

Makda Gorfu, a first-year computer science major, says pronouncing ethnic names correctly “…shows respect and compassion.” She feels that in today’s time, people do a much better job at pronouncing names. She also says she has the shared experience of having an ethnic name mispronounced and the corrections dismissed by a teacher when she was younger. 

The vice president continues to hold her head up high and works towards her goal. Her name is an affirmation, a superpower if you will. She has signs using her first name and her campaign has been rebranded as KamalaHQ. People of color with names tied to their culture have the shared experience of having to simplify their names for the convenience of others or for a chance to get a job interview. I feel that Kamala’s fight for the use of her first name is inspiring and will encourage others to feel grounded in their names.