MARTINEZ Lucy is an OK name. It’s just not mine.

it every time someone heard my name and asked, “Do you go by anything else?”

I wish I hadn’t started suggesting a nickname before others even attempted to say my name.

I felt embarrassed every morning that substitutes rolled in, in anticipation of them calling attendance.

I guess, at some point, I started asking myself why it mattered so much what name people ultimately called me. Why did it matter if the action of calling me the wrong name was, more often than not, a simple, wellintentioned mistake?

The name everyone replaced mine with was Lucy.

Lucy isn’t an ugly name, and it’s not one I dislike.

It’s a name I’ve come to admire because I associate it with 13-time Emmy nominee Lucille Ball, who starred in the ever-popular show, “I Love Lucy.”

Ball battled so that her real-life Cuban husband, Desi Arnaz, could play her on-screen husband in the show. There’s an iconic scene where Arnaz’s character translates a situation from Spanish to English for his wife, as it is crucial for her understanding of what’s happening.

It makes sense that she wouldn’t know what was said because she didn’t speak Spanish and hadn’t made an effort to learn it in the way I have had to make an effort to learn English.

Although I admire Lucille Ball and the stories she told through “Lucy,” I have to admit that my stories look almost nothing like hers.

I would’ve known what her husband said immediately because Spanish was my first language and you can hear that influence within the syllables of my name. That’s the reason why the tones in my name get so easily overshadowed by whatever sounds are easier to say for native English speakers — even if it usually only takes one simple tone correction to say it correctly.

I moved about an hour away to Murrieta during my junior year and started introducing myself as Lucelis instead of Lucy, and basked in the compliments that often followed. I’ve been asked to speak in front of crowds for many reasons over the years, and have always taken care in crafting and practicing my speeches. Oftentimes, I’d translate them into both languages.

I should have never been ashamed to correct those who couldn’t be bothered to practice saying one word — especially when some of those people had no issues asking me to give those speeches in the first place.

I will continue to introduce myself with the name that I love, and I hope you do, too. Should I meet you in the future and say your name wrong, please make sure that you correct me.