Thread by @tonyocruz

I used to “edit” other people’s names which I thought were spelled the wrong way. Names with an extra “h” after the first letter, names obviously misspelled.

But as I knew more, met more people, went places, I discovered it was really a bad idea.

We just can’t “edit” names.

I was just doing the editing in my mind. I used to ask “why do they have such misspelled names?”.

I would discover how parents would pick names for their kids. How they add their names, names of fri NDs, their experiences, and other magical stuff until they make a final choice.

I would get to meet friends from other places who find our names rather odd too, even the “properly spelled” ones. I’d be able to get to other places and discover a whole different way of naming people. A different take on spellings.

Growing up with mostly only Spanish and English names as “acceptable” and “normal”, we would be surprised by the beautiful Filipino names of earlier generations (Tagumpay, Bayani, Liwayway), and our national minorities. Religion and education both combined to limit our names.

In most other places, people’s names reflect the national identity or national culture.

Sa atin, hindi. We have English and Spanish names. And we sadly apologize for this symbol of conquest that still pervade today. Rarely do we find pride in pre-colonial names.

The spelling Nazis enforce the “American English” spellings of names. It is tempting to ask: Are other spellings wrong? Is the American English spelling the only correct way to spell? How about Spanish? Filipino?

But perhaps the most important thing about names is that they are personal. They denote identity. Whether we find them oddly-rendered or wrongly-spelled, they are no less valid as names. We don’t own those names. They belong to those who were baptized with them.