We could read about names, their histories, and cultural origins, forever. Seriously. Did you know that “Dolores” is most likely to be a young Hispanic woman today? Or that some Koreans hike up mountains to ask sages for naming advice? Or that political events can influence a region’s naming practices for generations? Neither did we!

So much to learn. So little time. Get started here.

10 Things You Never Knew About American Names

What is the American naming tradition? Turns out it’s just like Mash-Up America: fluid, borderless, and constantly shifting. Onomastician (that’s a names expert!) and researcher Lisa Spira shares some of the most interesting, head-scratching facts about names.

Finding A Name, And Myself

Names carry both the weight of history and the promise of the future. For Mash-Ups, names also bear the weight of the culture we came from, and the new traditions we make. But what if it took you half a lifetime to reclaim and fight for your own “ethnic” name? How do you choose a name for your daughter? Our Korean-Canadian-now-in-America Mash-Up Sy Yang tells us. Hint: It may involve a name sage in the Korean mountains.

A Name Is Just A Name Until It Is Everything

Co-founder Amy tells us how she named her son, the Korean-Colombian-Mexican-American Mash-Up Mascot Alejandro Jaesun Bermeo.

Podcast Ep 18: My Name Is…

In this episode, Amy and Rebecca dig into American naming traditions with The Baby Name Wizard Laura Wattenberg. Also, cameos by Dinner Party Download co-host Rico Gagliano and Mash-Up contributor Finn Paul! What’s your Starbucks name?

Becoming Finn

What happens when we transform our identity entirely, and rename ourselves? Finn Paul, our queer-trans-Waspy-Jewy-West-Coast American friend, takes us on his journey. Pro tip: It’s a major faux pas to ask a trans person their birth name. Don’t do it.

A Story Of The Cuban Y Generation

We’ve loved our extraordinary friend and Cuban-American, Miami-born Mash-Up Yanik Marie Fernandez Breving for so long that we’d forgotten her name was a little bit… unusual. But this recent Associated Press story on Cuba’s Generation Y, born during the Cold War and given Spanish-inflected nombres inspired by Russian names like Yevgeny or Yulia, got us thinking. How does a Caribbean island Cold War tradition, born of Eastern European political influence, translate in Mash-Up America? We chatted with Yanik and her mom, Tania, to find out how Yans became Yans.