‘WHAT’S IN A NAME?’ WELL, EVERYTHING

I can’t remember the first time someone said my name incorrectly, but I do know it was after I had moved to San Diego from the Dominican Republic at the age of 4.

A decade later, I was a freshman at Eastlake High School, flipping through the pages of my “No Fear Shakespeare” copy of “Romeo and Juliet,” and I paused at Act 2, Scene 2.

We’d finally gotten to Shakespeare’s iconic “What’s in a name?” line, and I smiled at the irony.

You see, the ending of the play silently answers the question.

“What’s in a name?” Juliet asked.

Well, the short response is, everything.

My father’s late mother was named Ana Lucia, and my mother’s mother is named Juana Arelis. My parents couldn’t decide which battle-tested grandmother’s

Martinez is a student at San Diego State University majoring in journalism. She lives in Chula Vista. name I should have, so they gave me both. They combined them into Lucelis.

The beginning of my name reminds a lot of people of the word luz, which means light in Spanish. I work hard to make my name hold significance. I want people to conjure up certain mental images when they think of it. Like, for example the image of strength, or humor, or kindness. I love my name now, but I didn’t always.

I had grown up with relatively the same group of students from kindergarten to 10th grade because we’d all been enrolled in the same dual language immersion program. This program, offered by the Chula Vista Elementary School District, allows native Spanishand English-speaking students to learn how to proficiently read, write and speak in the other language.

I just wish people took the time to listen more.

I wish I hadn’t accepted