essay you know my name but

You know my name, but not my story...

People tend to think that they know you if they know your name. My name neither defines me, my past nor my future. Yes some cultures believe that a name describes a person’s past, present or future but my mine doesn’t! My culture also does believe in that myth.

My parents named me Nonhlanhla because they believed that it was luck that I made it to the world after the complications my mother faced during her pregnancy, during labour and after birth. They believed it was luck I managed to walk at the age of 5 when the doctors had lost hope and thrown the towel saying my spinal-cord was damaged. They believed I would never walk in my whole life but that was their belief, not mine.

Knowing my name doesn’t mean you know me. You may know my name but not the struggles I’ve been through, and the obstacles that I have overcome. Yes I was named Nonhlanhla (meaning ‘lucky’) and this name may seem to tell a story about me but it doesn’t. Was it luck that I got raped at the age of 13? Was it luck that I was gang raped, turned to a wife while I was supposed to be a child and enjoyed my teenage years? If so, I fail to explain the word luck. An interpretation of my name is not an interpretation of my life’s story. My name says the opposite whilst my life says the other.

Yes my name is supposed to tell a story about my life but I guess mine doesn’t. Is being raped because of my sexuality luck? I’ve been abused numerous times. I’ve been raped to a point that I stopped counting. I got pregnant after my last rape incident. How was I lucky? I become a mother at the age of 17, having a child which will always be a reminder that it was conceived in the name of fixing my confused mind and driving out the demons in me.

How was I lucky to be a sex slave? How was I lucky when the law never took me seriously? I mean how was I lucky when the justice failed me? How was I? I mean you know my name but not the struggles I have faced, you don’t know me because my name doesn’t tell story of my life.

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'You know my name, not my story': Sherrell Adams

• Updated: Jul. 21, 2013, 8:00 a.m. |
• Published: Jul. 21, 2013, 7:00 a.m.

Sherrell Adams of Cleveland writes in her journal on Tuesday. Her face is in profile because the criminals about whom she writes are still at large.

• Plain Dealer guest columnist

A photograph of Sherrell Adams' father, Thomas Adams, taken five years ago, is framed and displayed in Sherrell's Cleveland home.

Where can I begin?

I mean there have been tons of times I've had a problem that I had to overcome. But there is one time, one disastrous time, that I remember the most.

It was a spring night -- May 31, 2009 -- when the problem began. I remember this night as if it were yesterday.

Shynnelle and I were lying in bed, getting ready to go to sleep so we could get started with our next day, when our mother walks into the room and says, "Hey you guys turn on the television and turn to the news!" My sister and I were confused. Why did she want us to turn to the news? What was going on? My sister Shynnelle immediately turned the TV on and turned to the news.

She didn't like the horrid look on my mother's face. We just watched afraid of what was going to happen next. My mother had a worried look on her face. She turned the TV off and looked into our eyes and held our arms and said as clear as day:

"That might be you guys' father."

We looked at her with a confused look on our face. What is she talking about?

"Huh?" was all we said.

"Well, the news reporter stated that a man was gunned down on Buckeye Road and your father lives near Buckeye Road. All I'm saying is, this could be Thomas," she answered.

"That's not our dad. We know that's not our dad. It can't be," Shynnelle said.

"You could be right, but investigators are not sure who the dead victim is. I've tried numerous times to contact your dad but he's not answering," Mom said.

"Well, what did they say?" I asked.

"They said the suspects robbed the victim for his cellphone, and the victim must have fought back because the teenage boys who were doing the robbing jumped him. When they got a hold of the phone, they shot the man in the leg. They then shot the man at the back of the [head] and rode off on their bikes. The man was found this morning and discovered dead at 12:45 a.m. Police are not sure who the teenagers were, but witnesses saw three of them ride off on their bikes."

"Well, can I try to call him again?" Shynnelle asked.

"You can try, but . . ." was all she could say before Shynnelle ran to get the house phone. She quickly dialed my father's number, anxious to see if he was going to answer, but unfortunately he didn't.

"One of you can just try again in the morning. I'm sure he's probably asleep. It is late. All we can do right now is keep our fingers crossed, pray and get some sleep. Goodnight," my mom said, turning off the light and the TV, and shutting the door behind her.

I prayed before I shut my eyes that night. And decided I'd cross my fingers until I fell asleep.

"The man is not our dad," was what I kept saying to myself until I fell asleep.

But more conflicts awaited me as I woke up the next morning. I woke up nervous, shaky and anxious. My stomach also hurt: It felt as if someone was punching me in the stomach. I had a bad dream the night before, as well. I had a dream that I found out that the man was my dad and my mother left us to be escorted to a foster home. We had horrible foster parents and Shynnelle and I were eventually split up. I woke up with sweat all over my brow and I felt nauseous. It was the worst dream of my life!

I didn't eat breakfast that morning. It hurt to even think about eating. I glanced at my sister and it seemed as if she'd forgotten about the situation last night.

Maybe she thought that it wasn't true.

I wish I could feel that, but images still roamed in my head of the bad dream. Voices in my head were telling me that the man could be my father.

I called my father a million more times before leaving out for school and, again, no answer. Why wasn't he answering his phone? Did he not want to speak to us? Did he have other kids he cared for more than us? Multiple questions roamed through my head that morning in my homeroom class.

Surprisingly, my teacher brought up the subject of the victim who was shot on Buckeye Road. He told all of what was said on the news and what my mother had said about the shooting. I wanted nothing but to get off of this subject so I put my head down for the remainder of the period.

Fortunately, at lunch time I was feeling a little better. The thought of the situation about the man who was shot disappeared from my mind. I was having fun throwing food, singing and chatting with my friends at the lunch table. I had a pretty decent remainder of the day, until after school.

My sister and I, along with my friend Miracle and two other boys, decided we'd take a trip to the park. My sister and I hesitated, but we then agreed we'd all go to the park for a little while.

For 30 minutes we swung, slid, ran; anything you could think of. We were exhausted and were all ready to go home. We needed to get home anyway before we got in trouble.

Shynnelle and I rushed home as we waved goodbye to our friends.

Our mom is going to kill us, I thought as we ran toward our front door. When we approached the door, my brother was already walking out of it.

"Oh, Mommy looking for y'all. Go upstairs now!" he boomed as he walked down the sidewalk toward the corner where he and his gang friends met up to just stand there and do nothing, all day long.

While we were walking up the stairs I thought, man, she must have belts, sticks, rocks, maybe even a bat ready to hit our behinds as soon as we went through her bedroom door.

She must have heard us coming up the stairs because she opened the door abruptly and said, "Where have y'all been?"

We stood there, shifting from one foot to another. We were lost for words. I finally spoke up and said, "Ma, we were at the park. Sorry we're late. We just wanted to have a little fun. Are we in trouble?"

"Never mind that," she answered and said, "Come in my room and sit. I have something to tell you."

Shynnelle and I walked into the room and sat on different sides of the bed. We looked at each other, then our mother as she shut her bedroom door.

"What's going on?" I said, staring at my mother.

She hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, but finally spoke up and said, "Look, you guys. It's going to be hard for me to say this but . . . the man that was killed on Buckeye Road . . . was your father."

I couldn't believe my ears. I looked around the room as my sister began to cry. I didn't notice before when I saw my mother that her eyes were puffy red as she began to tear up. And you know what I did? I laughed. I know that might be a shock to you. I was even shocked when I did it, but I just couldn't believe it. There's no way my worst dream could be coming true, no way!

But it all hit me. I looked around the bedroom once more. Then I began to wail. The tears kept falling and falling and between sobs I was saying things like, "Dad, why couldn't you just give them the phone!"

It was completely devastating.

The next day at school, I told my teacher that the man was my father. He was completely surprised and felt horrible and said if there's anything I need, I can talk to him. But nothing can bring back my father, nothing.

The following Monday, we went to his funeral. My dad was cremated, so all we saw were slide-show photos of him when he was little, and a teenager, and even all grown up. Boy, did some of those pictures have me crying with laughter. I guess Afros were the style back in the '70s and '80s. (Sigh.) I was really going to miss him.

Now I'm 14 years old and the situation still haunts me till this day. But this is a problem I overcame. For years I thought I'd never get over the death of my father. I'd grow up without one and probably wouldn't make it in life. But as years progressed, I've learned the only bad choices I can make are the ones I choose to make. No one can choose for me. Not my mom, my sister, not even my dad.

But you know who can? ME! Yeah, it still makes me cry, and I do have bad days when I think about it. But I knew as long as I had the faith in God that I'd always overcome those bad times. I'm still overcoming it till this day. But I know I'll be loved, cared for and protected with the spirit of my father, and the faith in God.

All I can say is: "You know my name, not my story."

Sherrell Adams is an eighth-grader at Carl & Louis Stokes Central Academy in Cleveland. She wrote this essay for the Carson Scholars Fund competition and won a $1,000 college scholarship.

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You Know My Name Not My Story

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You know my name, not my story. you've heard what i've done, but not what i've been through., added date - nov 09, 2016.

You know my name, not my story. You've heard what I've done, but not what I've been through. You know nothing about my struggles and setbacks, or how I have persevered through some of the hardest things life has thrown at me. Without these tough times I could not have accomplished what I have in my life. Hardship is like the fire that forges the strongest steel, changing people from those who are soft to those who are hard enough to take on almost anything and come out on top. When you think about who I am and what I have accomplished always remember that it took blood, sweat, and tears for me to get where I am know. What I have gone through has made me who I am and the success that I am today.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
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Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

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How to Write an Essay about Your Name

Are you looking for an easy and quick way to write an essay about your name? Then this is the perfect tutorial for you! 

I’m Constance, and in this tutorial, I will show you how to write an essay about your name in six simple steps. I will also give you an example of such an essay as we go through the process step by step.

Let’s begin!

Step 1: Choose your main idea.

If you want to organize your thoughts and present them clearly and concisely in an essay, you need to choose your thesis — a main idea for your essay. Simply take a stand and write it down as a simple sentence.

What do you want to say about your name? Do you like your name? Do you think it’s interesting? Whatever you think of will act as your thesis . 

For example, you can say, “I love my name.”   Note that we kept it really simple. By doing so, we can clearly think of the next things we need for the essay.

Step 2: Think of three supporting ideas.

Trying to write an essay on only one undivided idea or thesis will get you stuck.

So, you need more than one idea. Two ideas are better than one. Three is even better. But four may be too many because you’re just writing a simple essay. 

So, coming up with three supporting ideas is the best method. Why? Because three is the perfect number the brain can handle. And it works all the time! We call it the Power of Three.

So, let’s use the Power of Three to keep our ideas flowing.

The Power of Three is a three-part structure that divides your main idea into three distinct supporting points. It helps create your body paragraphs.

Let’s apply it to an essay about your name. 

Ask yourself – “why do I love my name?” And write down three answers. Here are mine:

• I like its Latin origin .
• I like how my parents came up with it.
• It sounds great .

Using ideas that are too similar to each other may cause writer’s block. So, note that our three supporting points are totally different from one another.

Keep them distinct and simple to avoid running out of things to write down the line.

Step 3: Write your thesis statement.

Now that we have a clear picture of the essay’s structure, we can write a thesis statement.  

When writing a thesis statement, take your main idea and its supporting points and write them out as a sentence or complete sentences in a single paragraph.

Once you’ve written your thesis statement, you have a nice outline for your essay.

Here’s an example of a thesis statement:

“I love my name because I like its Latin origin, the story of how my parents came up with it is pretty cool, and it sounds great, too.”

Note how clear the statement is. We started with our thesis, and the three supporting points sound like great ideas to back it up. So, it works.

Great! Now, we’re ready for the next step.

Step 4: Write the body paragraphs.

After dividing our main idea into three distinct points, we can easily write three body paragraphs for our essay.

When writing a body paragraph , you should start with a topic sentence summarizing the entire paragraph. Then, briefly explain it and illustrate it using examples .

Note that your paragraphs should go from general to specific. 

In a body paragraph, your topic sentence (the first sentence) is the most general statement. After writing your topic sentence, you will unpack it by writing more specifically, using an explanation and examples.

Here are examples of body paragraphs for our essay:

Paragraph 1

One of the few things I like about my name is its etymology. It has a Latin origin, rooted in the word “constantem,” which means “faithful” or “steadfast.” It is a name that represents perseverance and dedication regardless of the challenges ahead. I could not be more proud and grateful for my name’s origin. It reflects my determined personality and my loyalty to the people I love.

Paragraph 2

I also love that I was named after my grandmother Constancia. I appreciate my mom and dad naming me after her – someone I loved so much. My grandmother was an amazing woman. She raised eight kids despite her humble status in life, which highlighted her steadfastness. And she was faithful to her family and supported it however she could.

Paragraph 3

My name has a certain sonorous quality to it with its consonants that roll off the tongue. I am thankful for the sound of my name. It has a beautiful melody to it that I always love to hear. Every time I hear it, it brings me a sense of warmth and joy and puts a smile on my face.

Note how each paragraph proceeds from a general statement to more specific points.

Now that we’ve written our body paragraphs, we are ready for the next step.

Step 5: Write the introduction and conclusion.

Introduction.

An introduction can be just one more general sentence, after which you should simply proceed to your thesis statement, which includes your thesis and three supporting points.

Here’s an example of an entire introductory paragraph:

Many of us may not think much about it, but our names are a part of our identity and can have a lasting impact on us. I love my name because of its Latin origin, the story of how my parents came up with it, and its cool sound. My name means “constant” or “steadfast” in Latin, which reflects my determined personality. It came from my grandmother’s name, Constancia, whom I loved so much. And it just sounds amazing, even if I only say so myself.”

If you want a time-proven, easy, and quick way to write a conclusion for your essays, I recommend restating what you stated in your introduction using different words. 

Here’s an example of a conclusion for our essay:

My name is an important part of my identity and has a special place in my heart. It has a meaningful linguistic origin from the Latin word constantem, meaning “steadfastness.” It is a special reminder of my grandmother, Constancia. And it has a nice ring to it that brings me joy.

Now, we’re ready for the final step.

Step 6: Proofread.

The final step in writing an essay is going back and proofreading it. Look out for:

• Misspellings
• Grammatical errors
• Irrelevant material (stuff that doesn’t belong in the essay)
• Contradictions (make sure you don’t contradict your own points)

And we are done writing an example of an essay about a name. 

I hope you learned a lot in this tutorial. Now go ahead and write an essay about your name!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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Essays About Your Name: Top 5 Examples and 6 Prompts

Every person’s name is special. Read the following essays about your name for examples and prompts to discover how you can create a thoughtful and personal piece.

Whether given or chosen, names have a powerful hold over each person. They can be curious mysteries, reminders of painful pasts, fond monikers, or personal treasures. Like our faintest scars and mental states, they also have deep histories ingrained into our very being. They can become means by which we trace our ancestors, create opportunities, or cherish our present situations. Your name is more than a means of calling your attention. It can convey an abstract idea of your personhood, experiences, and beliefs.

For example, what comes to mind when you hear the name Marilyn Monroe ? Most people think of the iconic blond bombshell from the 1950s to the early 1960s. Depending on how much you know about her, you may know her as a bright and determined woman or a sweet but ditzy character, which she often played in TV and film roles. Her name alone indicates her accolades, skills, and perceived personality.

5 Essay Examples

1. long essay on what’s in a name by prasanna, 2. the story of my name by rong xiaoqing, 3. the mystery of carl miller by sarah miller, 4. name and identity by jennifer wang, 5. call you by your name by roxanne krystalli, 1. the power of nicknames, 2. my unique and interesting name, 3. what it’s like being named after popular people, 4. why i chose this nickname, 5. cultural names and their meanings, 6. my name if i were from a different place.

“In a deep sense what creates the true meaning and power of a name is the worth of the individual or thing as reflected in the outer world.”

Prasanna divides her essay into three parts, explaining how people receive their names, how these monikers affect their identities, and how powerful names can be. The essay title was lifted from William Shakespeare’s “ Romeo and Juliet ,” reiterating Juliet’s profound line, “What’s in a name? What we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This script refers to the reality that names’ importance is directly related to the unique qualities someone possesses.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

“Those who read my name did not know how to pronounce it, and those who heard it did not know how to write it.”

Rong shares her struggles of being a Chinese American and the complications of her name. Her name contains two of the most complicated Chinese characters that she found difficult to write when she was young, plus it was hard to pronounce in English. However, when Rong learned the meaning of her name, she fell in love with it.

In the next section of her essay, she talks about instances where names are more than names, referring to cases such as a parent losing custody of their children for giving them Nazi names. Rong also includes relevant studies that connect names and race and the times people deliberately mispronounced her name to be cruel. She concludes that she’s still growing and has all the time in the world to learn more about herself.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about names and essays about self .

“The last name Miller says nothing about me, but if pressed I would say I appreciate the way it evokes a beautiful neutrality, and the way it reminds me that all of us could so easily have been someone else.”

The author, Sarah Miller, only knows part of the story behind her ancestors. In her essay, she shares a few facts about her father’s birth and what she knew of her grandmother, then she recalls how she often asked about her grandfather, Carl Miller. The essay focuses on the author’s curiosity about Carl Miller and her emotional journey about accepting that she might never learn more about him.

“No others show me being stretched between two very different cultures and places—the ‘Jennifer’ clashing with the ‘Wang,’ the ‘Wang’ fighting with the ‘Jennifer.’”

In this short essay, Wang describes her internal confusion between her two cultures, disclosing how she struggles to be in the United States as a Chinese woman. She remembers how she wandered toy aisles looking for dolls with the same skin tone as hers and how she turned to shun her Asian heritage because she didn’t understand it. While the essay centers around Wang trying to introduce herself, her writing echoes the dilemma many young immigrants still face today.

“By the time I went to college, Roxani had been left behind. I was fully Roxanne by then, until one day my roommate beckoned: “Rooooox, do you want to watch an episode of something with me?” My father had an aversion to nicknames and never called me anything short of my full name: Roxani.”

Krystalli talks about how her name transitioned from the Greek Roxani to Roxanne to several other variations and then back again. She shares her life experiences and thoughts about these names as she grew up and gained new monikers. By the end of her essay, Krystalli tells the reader how she yearns to become Roxani again and reconnect with her Greek roots.

6 Prompts for Writing Essays About Your Name

Your nickname has a history that is as unique as yours. Nicknames are unpredictable and can sometimes be challenging to accept. For example, some children often pick nicknames based on their peer’s appearance, particularly if something stands out to them. However, nicknames can often be a sign of affection; naming someone with a nickname can be a way to show your friendship and close bond.

With this prompt, share how you dealt with any given nicknames you didn’t like. You can also speak about a short backstory of how others chose these nicknames. Explain your thoughts when you felt like you had no choice but to take other people’s nicknames for you. 

Whether your parents got creative in naming you or you chose a one-of-a-kind name for yourself, those with unique names share distinct experiences. For example, people may rarely pronounce or read it correctly. Others may have difficulty spelling your name when they need to write it down. 

In this prompt, share your experiences that connect to your unique name. Talk about the most interesting and memorable instances you remember and if you expect them to happen again.

If your parents are die-hard fans and decided to name you after their favorite book character, musician, or public figure, your name can feel like a borrowed one. Although some enjoy sharing names with well-known people, others would rather have a unique name. 

Delve into people’s reactions when they learn your name in your essay. Discuss how you’ve handled their jokes, or share the questions you already anticipate once they realize where your name came from.

Your name can change people’s perception of you, and choosing a nickname gives you control over that. This prompt is excellent if you have a nickname that has no connection with your given name. It’s also a great conversation starter. In your essay, explain why you chose that moniker and what it means to you. 

You can also add how people reacted before and after they learned the history of it. Your nickname doesn’t have to have a deep history. It can be as simple as earning the nickname “Cookie” because you like to eat cookies.

In some cultures, people still practice giving traditional names or nicknames to children, and you may belong to a culture that does the same. If you want to share this experience with your readers, discuss your name in this essay. Explain the language your name comes from, what it means, and why you received it. You can also give other examples, like the nicknames of your siblings, cousins, or ancestors.

Appreciation of another culture can push us to ponder what we’ll be called if we were from that group. If you’ve had an intense interest and appreciation for another culture or country, you may have already thought about how you want to be addressed. Share the name you chose, its meaning, and why you picked it. This also extends to fictional or fantasy worlds or cultures. 

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead. For help picking your next essay topic, check out our 20 engaging essay topics about family .

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

View all posts

Nobody Knows My Name

45 pages • 1 hour read

Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 1

Part 1, Chapter 2

Part 1, Chapter 3

Part 1, Chapter 4

Part 1, Chapter 5

Part 1, Chapter 6

Part 1, Chapter 7

Part 1, Chapter 8

Part 2, Chapter 9

Part 2, Chapter 10

Part 2, Chapter 11

Part 2, Chapter 12

Part 2, Chapter 13

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961) by James Baldwin is a collection of essays which serve as a companion to the author’s earlier anthology, Notes of a Native Son (1955) . The work covers topics such as discrimination, segregation, police brutality, racial violence, and identity. The essays in this compilation comprise Baldwin’s experiences and thoughts during the end of his nine years in Paris and return to the United States. Baldwin served as a witness to the civil rights movement and explored the complexities of issues that remain relevant today. Baldwin’s work has had a major influence on contemporary American writers and thinkers. He is considered one of the greatest American essayists and thinkers.

This guide uses the First Vintage International Edition published in 1993.

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Content Warning: The source text discusses racial discrimination and violence and includes references to hate crimes, sexual discrimination, death by suicide, police brutality, and assassination. Baldwin’s discussion focuses mainly on the experiences and arguments of Black men. The source material uses some outdated language, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes.

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James Baldwin lived in Paris between 1948 and 1957; Baldwin cites the oppressive culture of the United States as one reason for his move. When his friend Eugene Worth died by suicide, Baldwin began to feel that staying in America might cause him to either kill or be killed. Living in Paris allowed Baldwin to write as an author and intellect without tying his identity to the color of his skin. While in Europe, Baldwin wrote Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays reflecting on race and racism in the United States.

In the Introduction, Baldwin explains that his time in Paris represented his youth. His time there enabled him to become a full-fledged writer, and now it was time for him to confront the world with maturity. He returned to the United States to serve as a witness to the civil rights movement and the sweeping change that was taking place there. Nobody Knows My Name marks the end of Baldwin’s time in Europe and his subsequent return to the United States. In the compilation of essays, the author explores The Complexities of Identity , White Colonialism and Racism , and The Importance of Self-Examination and Self-Knowledge .

Chapter 1 expands upon Baldwin’s time in Europe and what it meant to him as a writer and Black man. Paris gave him a sense of freedom. He could move freely through society without fear or discrimination. Baldwin also exposes the contradictions of this idea and emphasizes that time will always reveal the corruption of a society. By the end of his time in Europe, Baldwin understood that Europe, too, was troubled. The author’s return to the United States meant that he would attempt to write about the culture and society of the country he was born into; yet, Baldwin notes that America does not have a fixed culture in the same way as other countries do. It is disparate, complex, and centered on the individual.

Chapter 2 details the events of the Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists, which was held in Paris in September 1956. Baldwin details the speeches by several Black intellectuals and writers from around the world. The focus of the conference is on Black culture. Participants formed a committee to explore and understand Black culture within the prevalent European structures implemented by colonization. In Chapter 3, Baldwin describes his childhood neighborhood of Harlem . He explores the loss and pain community members have experienced and ways systemic racism has impacted Harlem. Baldwin challenges Northern attitudes about the South and the North’s willful ignorance of its own racism and segregation. In this chapter, the author also exposes police presence in Harlem as an inevitable expression of power and corruption.

Chapter 4 carries Baldwin’s arguments further. He proposes that Americans use communism as an excuse to avoid self-examination. He emphasizes the importance of self-reflection as a way of moving forward. Baldwin then juxtaposes two activist movements and their approaches to white perceptions and white racism. Baldwin argues that America must begin to change rather than expecting others to change to fit its will. In Chapter 5, Baldwin travels for the first time to the American South. He meets a Black teenager who recently started attending a previously all-white school. While interviewing the boy and his mother, Baldwin learns that the boy’s former high school was inadequate. The boy is resolved to continue attending the new school, despite being spit on and blocked from entry by his peers. For the boy and his mother, the price of a high-quality education is worth the suffering and strife.

Chapter 6 examines the South and what its status says about Northern attitudes and American identity. Baldwin outlines the unique challenges Southern cities and activist groups face as they navigate the complexities of Southern racial perceptions. Chapter 7 challenges those perceptions directly by responding to Southern author William Faulkner’s assertion that the NAACP and other activist groups should slow down their efforts in the South until white people have had time to adjust to the changes. Baldwin argues that there is no time to wait. In Chapter 8, he argues for the need of a new American identity that rejects the concept of majority rule.

In Chapter 9, the author writes a hypothetical novel, exploring character, plot, and theme in front of an audience of white college students. He argues that characters must face their own independent challenges while also being influenced by the wider world. Chapter 10 examines a narrative by André Gide. Baldwin contemplates Gide’s treatment of his wife and his attitude toward his experiences as a gay man.

The final three chapters center on Baldwin’s thoughts and interviews with three artists: Ingmar Bergman, Richard Wright, and Norman Mailer. Chapter 11 centers on Baldwin’s interview with Bergman for Esquire . In the interview, Baldwin finds a connecting thread to Bergman and contemplates Bergman’s fear of Americanization. Chapter 12 expands upon Baldwin’s complicated relationship with Richard Wright, and Chapter 13 responds to Norman Mailer’s essay “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster.”

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Nobody Knows My Name Essay Questions

By james baldwin, essay questions.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by people who wish to remain anonymous

Why does James Baldwin compare his experiences (in Europe) with the experiences of Other American writers? (“The Discovery of What It Means to Be an American”)?

The comparison involves the ubiquitous intersection between identity (American) and writing. Identity impacts the writer’s voice as James Baldwin observes that, “The story of what can happen to an American Negro writer in Europe simply illustrates, in some relief, what can happen to any American writer here.” Both James Baldwin and the other white American writers that he comes upon in Paris have the matching object of digging up their identities. The conception of identity is a step forward in the life of a writer as it nurtures the writer’s stance towards the subjects that he or she deals with in writing. Accordingly, all American writers, irrespective of whether they are white or black, face identical dilemmas in terms of identity.

What is the implication of the assertion : “My memory of that time is both blurred and sharp” (“The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy”)?

This sentence is paradoxical, since sharpness and blurriness are mutually exclusive. Even so, the paradox accentuates the materiality of James Baldwin’s first acquaintance with Norman. The encounter is a turning point as it contributes constructively to Baldwin’s identity; whereby, he hankers to welcome Norman in his life and for Norman to accommodate him in his. No doubt, Norman is an eminent figure in James Baldwin’s life .

How would a critic utilize the Queer theory to deconstruct the sentence: “Well, I wanted to go, that is , I wanted to see Norman; but I did not want to see any people.” (“The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy”)?

Here, James Baldwin recalls about day when Norman calls him “from Connecticut” inviting him to go there. In the context of the Queer theory, James Baldwin is sexually attracted to Norman, that is why he is of the opinion that the only person that he should meet in Norman. His reluctance to go to Connecticut is based on the fact that the other people, who would be there, would not allow him to have the privacy and closeness that he yearns to have with Norman; this informs his decision not to go there. In the context of the Queer Theory, the title of the short story would have been: “The Black Boy Falls in Love the White Boy.”

How would Abraham Maslow’s theory on the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ to be used to analyze Norman’s decision to run for New York mayoral post ? (“The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy”)?

At the time that James Baldwin bumps into Norman, Norman is prosperous, so it can be deduced that he can meet the expense of physiological and safety requirements. Norman’s wife and acquaintances are a source of love and belonging. Also, the ‘ Kreouac’s and the Suzuki Rhythms ’ offer Norman a sense or illusion o f belonging . Furthermore, the Norman is an skilfull writer who has put out books such as “The naked and The Dead, Barbary Shore, White Negro, and The Deer Park. ” The publication of the books lives up to his esteem needs.

The question of Norman’s psychological motivation for eyeing the mayor position can be answered based on Norman’s question : “I want to know how power works”, which he directs to James Baldwin.Through the mayor title, Norman is expectant that he will weld vast power. Seemingly, Norman has not realized the power through publication of books and socialization with various people including James Baldwin, Adele and Jazz Musicians. In the context of Abraham Maslow’s theory, Norman yearns for Self-Actualization (power is constituent of the self-actualization).

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Nobody Knows My Name Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Nobody Knows My Name is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Nobody Knows My Name

Nobody Knows My Name study guide contains a biography of James Baldwin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Nobody Knows My Name
• Nobody Knows My Name Summary
• Character List

Essays for Nobody Knows My Name

Nobody Knows My Name essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin.

• Richard Wright’s Perceived Bargain for Success in Baldwin’s ‘Alas, Poor Richard’

Wikipedia Entries for Nobody Knows My Name

• Introduction
• Critical reception

Home — Essay Samples — Life — About My Name — Analysis of The Meaning of My Name

Analysis of The Meaning of My Name

• Categories: About My Name Names Who Am I

About this sample

Words: 377 |

Updated: 15 November, 2023

Words: 377 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

Works Cited

• Campbell, M. (2017). Baby Names: 12000+ Baby Names, Meanings and Origins. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
• Alba, R. D., & Nee, V. (2003). Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Harvard University Press.
• Crystal, D. (2013). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press.
• Rosenkrantz, L., & Satran, P. (2008). Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana: What to Name Your Baby Now. St. Martin's Griffin.
• Segal, J. Z. (2003). Naming and Identity: A Cross-Cultural Study of Personal Naming Practices. Praeger.
• Iles, J. (2014). Baby Names 2015: Over 8,000 of This Year's Favourite Names. HarperCollins UK.
• Hanks, P., Hardcastle, K., & Hodges, F. (Eds.). (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.
• Williamson, L. (2019). Baby Names Made Easy: The Complete Reverse-Dictionary of Baby Names. Sourcebooks.
• Neala, C., & Neala, A. (2000). The Baby Name Personality Survey. Macmillan.
• Sterling, C. (2012). The Everything Baby Names Book: From Classic to Contemporary, 50,000 Baby Names That You—and Your Child—Will Love. Everything.

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Throughout the readings, negotiations, and self-assessment exercises this course offered, I was able to develop an accurate view of how I present myself in formal negotiation settings, and identify strengths, weaknesses, and [...]

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