My name is not Winston, there is no T. My parents moved to the US with a very limited English vocabulary. They came up with the name Winson when I was born. At a young age, I met many other people who were named “Winston,” but none that were the same as mine. I began to wonder why my name was different from others. This led to the event that whenever I tell anyone my name, I would always have to say that name does not have a T in it. 

Until my high school year, when one of my classes had an assignment on what’s the meaning behind your name, I finally decided to seek clarification from my parents as the only possible explanation I had in mind was that they wanted me to be unique. However, their answer was that I was originally supposed to be named Winston but they had just misspelled it. After learning this, I did not think of it as a bad thing, but rather this difference from others was possibly fate. 

After conducting a search through the US social security baby name database, my name was not ranked in the top 1000 at all, while “Winston,” and it was in the top 500s(“Popular Baby Names”). Rather than being proud that your name is really popular, I found that having uniqueness is also really important.

At times when I meet challenges that I cannot overcome, I would think of my name as a motivation to persist and strive through the obstacle. When interpreted literally, my name could be separated as “Win Son.” In a way, I can define this to be a win or accomplishment because of the amount of hard work I put in to get to where I am right now. Over the years, my friends have been saying “your name is Winson, so you should win something/someone over.” With this thought in mind, the name Winson serves to me as a symbol of determination and reminds me that every obstacle that I will face in my life is an opportunity to win.