Maya Rawal | What's in a name

The Maya Project | When first getting to know someone, we shouldn’t reduce him to his name and heritage

By Maya Rawal 10/23/14 2:42am

“What’s your name?”

“Where are you from?”

These two questions are nearly ubiquitous when we meet a new person. They immediately provide a way to identify someone — the answers often hint at one’s social and cultural background. This framework gives us adequate context to generate a conversation.

Interestingly, we have essentially no control over either of these answers. We are named by our parents at birth, are born wherever they live at the time and originate from wherever our ancestors happen to have come. So why do these standard topics hold such significance in our daily interactions?

Names indicate popular trends, cultural heritage and more. This makes it easy for people to reduce minority groups in particular to their stereotypes, rather than acknowledging them as multifaceted individuals apart from those categories. We need to address and counter this inclination in order to create more genuine, deeper connections with people. Stereotypes, while helpful in that they give us a basis from which to approach novel situations, are also very limiting if we are unable to view others as more complex than — or in opposition to — those ideas.

Several studies have shown that employers demonstrate a subconscious bias when reviewing emails and resumes based on the job applicant’s name. In particular, a University of Chicago study from 2001-02 demonstrated that resumes submitted with popular, generic “white” names were about 1.5 times likelier to receive callbacks than those with popular “black” ones.

Our identities also come with an implicit set of expectations based on the sociocultural connotations of one’s hometown or ancestral country. The phenomenon of cultural bias sets one’s own traditions as the norm, comparing others to that baseline. Ethnocentrism also speaks to the trend of judging others according to our culture’s standards. This can be problematic since we often automatically view others as outsiders if they don’t align with those preconceived notions.

My experience with these issues has been somewhat unique because of the ambiguity of my answers. My name is Maya. I’m from the Chicago suburbs. So what can you learn about me from that? Not much, probably.

People tend to pry further, though. I’m asked for a specific suburb, knowing that Evanston and Cicero mean very different things. They wonder if Maya is my real name, knowing my Indian heritage — to be fair, I have friends who have “Americanized” or completely changed their names. They tell me that other Mayas they know are Jewish or Japanese. Since it has religious and social history around the world, Maya is a highly cross-cultural name.

Alternatively, people try to play a “guess the background” game. I’ve gotten everything from mixed black and white to Greek to Hispanic. I find this a somewhat intriguing source of entertainment, especially when people don’t let me just clarify that I’m Indian. Stranger yet, I have found out after months or years of acquaintance that a friend had erroneously assumed I was a particular race all along.

These occurrences have never really upset me. I’m mostly just confused as to why people insist on categorizing me. I wonder what incorrect qualities I have been assigned when those categories are wrong. Why do I have to be identified by my racial background? Why do any of us, really?

While some people identify very strongly with their cultural heritage and love to talk about it, it would be freeing to sometimes introduce myself without any expectations regarding my personality and interests. For instance, I came into college as a biochemistry major and am now tentatively majoring in cognitive neuroscience instead. Both of these options inevitably lead to the assumption that I’m pre-med. I’m not, and I have never been. But as an Indian science major, I must be, right?

Next time someone introduces himself or herself, try asking some new questions. Sure, the conversation will probably be smoother if both participants know each other’s names, but I’d prefer for people to form their opinions of me based on factors I can control. Ask me about my academic interests, my music tastes or what I had for lunch.

My name is Maya. I’m fascinated by neural biology and psychology, I’m into alternative and indie rock and I just had a delicious falafel sandwich. How about you?

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