Hakisier Joseph
From North Park (Unemployed)
I have a very bold name. Bold and accurate. I’ve gotten used to it. It’s a good name. I’ve never been able to understand why, but since I moved to this country they always have a translation for a person’s name. It means “the truth wins” or “champion,” or something like that. But it doesn’t mean anything to me. I guess everybody has their translations. In America they translate things like that. Somebody apparently translated it for me because they asked me, “What does your name mean?” It’s an original name from Africa.
Jonathon Mason
From College Area (Writer)
Yeah, I like my name. I don’t usually let them call me Jon or anything like that for short. I just go by Jonathan…make them go the extra mile and say the whole thing and pronounce all the syllables.
John Casey, Jr.
From East County (Pedicab Driver)
Yes. I love my name. My name is John Joseph Casey Junior. I’ve got my dad, my grandfather, his dad — generation after generation after generation… I’m, like, the fourth, I think. I’m supposed to name my firstborn the same as me or else I guess all of our family spirits are going to come back and haunt me or something. That’s what my dad tells me, anyway, so I guess I have to do it. It has more meaning to it because it’s like I’m carrying on my family.
Ariel Hamdi
From Downtown (Sales Promoter)
Yeah. My name is Ariel, like the mountain. In Hebrew it means “the lion of God.” I’m from Israel, but it’s not a family name; in Israel it’s not common to name the sons with the name of the father. It’s hard for people to understand my name here [in America]. It takes them, like, five minutes to pronounce it correctly. They’re, like, “Aaron?” “Aiden?” “What? Arian?” People call me “Ari” for short, but they have a hard time pronouncing that, too.
Nellie Pate
From Hillcrest (Production Assistant and Office Manager)
Yeah! Nellie is my first name. I ran into another Nellie the other day, a little girl. It was not her full name though. I’ve never met another Nellie that’s spelled with an i-e. Usually it’s with a y. There are two famous Nellys, where it’s spelled N-e-l-l-y. So, yeah, I like it. My great-grandmother was named Nellie — my parents named me after her. And then, I was born in 1978 and there was a gymnast whose name was Nellie Kim.
Peggy DeCino
From University City (School District Clerk)
No. It’s Peggy, but my real name’s Margaret. I prefer Margaret but I don’t know how to make the change because everybody knows me as Peggy. At work I said, “Why does everybody call me Peggy?” And my coworker said, “Because you told us that’s your name!” I’ve always been a Peggy; when I put my name on school papers, when I bought my first house, it was Peggy — even though my legal name was Margaret. Homeland Security changed everything. I went to the DMV to get my license renewed and they said my name didn’t match the database, so I had to go and change everything to Margaret.