Olivia is smooth yogurt, ribbons, raised voices, and graded papers. Olivia does not reflect my own ethnic background. The ever-so-popular whitewashed name (top five since 2008, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration) separates me from nationality, ethnicity, and the real me.

Beauty is at the heart of how my mom picked my name. I was named after the actresses Liv Tyler and Olivia Hussey. She says she picked it simply “because they are beautiful.” I don’t think physical beauty should have been the only representation and standard of who I would become or wanted to be. Olivia may be my past, but not my present or future. 

Livvie is a spring meadow, the color green, calligraphy, bubbles, crisp and dewy mornings. I am Livvie. Since seventh grade, Livvie has been the only name I will respond to. She is familiar - who I have chosen to grow into. Livvie feels like me - willingly chosen by myself. 

There was always another name that was left in the shadows growing up - another part of my ethnic identity ignored. When coming to college, I decided to dust her off. My name is 서보경, meaning bright. Suh Bo Kyung is also me, but had never been heard on lips before entering my first-year college Korean class. After all, I am her, and she is me. She is proudly Korean, exploring the world with her newfound name, culture, and a new tongue. 

Names have always been a sensitive topic of mine. However, through the several phases of my life that I wish I could redo or forget, in the end, they are all mine, and I am all theirs.

Works Cited 

Top 5 Names in Each of the Last 100 Years, Social Security, 

www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/top5names.html. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. 

“Meaning of the Name Bo-Kyung - Origin and History.” The Meaning Of The Name, 

themeaningofthename.com/bo-kyung/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.