Writing Prompt #5

Joshua Carino

UWRT 1104

February 22, 2017

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A name is a very powerful thing, as it is the single most identifiable part of a person.

Some names go on to live in notoriety, some live in infamy, while others simply fade away in the

passage of time. Yet, many of us are ignorant to the origins of our names. Some names hold

significant value to our ancestral culture, while others originate from the jobs our predecessors

occupied. These naming conventions have survived the test of time, being passed down from

generation to generation. A way in which they sustain these legacies is through the union of

marriage. The history behind a matriarch or a patriarchs name can indicate intricate ties between

centuries of past unions, and the culture for which those unions took place. In the Filipino

culture, it is customary for the wife in a marriage to take the last name of her husband.

Marriage is not the only consistent naming convention within my family. In fact, my own

dad is a part of this unique practice. Every single male child on my dads side was named

Richard, after my grandfather. To differentiate between themselves to others and to their own,

they adopted several particular monikers. For example: my dads name is Dick, followed then are

my uncles, whose names are Bob, Ricky-Dick and lastly is Bong. Ironically enough, my dad was

the only one to receive a normal variation of Richard. While this passing on of names does keep

the memory of my grandpa alive, it does make me shudder thinking about the possibility that I

couldve been subjected, or rather gifted to put it nicely, to this name.

Luckily, I was given the name Joshua Rivera Carino upon my birth. Growing up, I

unfortunately had a dislike of the name. It was a combination of several factors, the most

apparent of which was the fact that there were so many Joshuas in my school that at one point I

was in a class with three other Joshuas! However, now I've grown to like my name, and have

always been fascinated with the reasoning behind it. To start off with my given name, Joshua: the

history behind this name dates to biblical times. Not only was Joshua the figure to succeed
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Moses, but it also means Yahweh is salvation in Hebrew. This makes sense given how strong

in faith my parents are. Next comes my middle name, and my moms former surname, Rivera.

This name has a mainly Spanish origin, in which it was based on the Spanish word for riverbank,

Ribera. Finally, my surname Carino, which has Spanish and Italian roots. In Spanish, it can mean

affection, while in Italian it means cute or pretty. Overall, I'm very thankful to have been given

such a beautiful name.