The Genealogy of Names

Names are genealogies. A surname carries family history, colonial conquest, religious conversion, forced displacement. Sor Juana's name itself tells a genealogy: Sor (Sister, marking her vows), Juana (a common woman's name), Inés (a saint's name), de la Cruz (a place name or family reference). Each element situates her within specific power structures and traditions. Across cultures, genealogies of names reveal inheritance patterns, conquest narratives, and survival strategies. An indigenous person carrying a colonizer's surname carries the genealogy of that colonization in their name. A person renamed through immigration carries the trauma and adaptation of that naming. A woman who takes her husband's name makes visible the patriarchal genealogy embedded in naming practices. This concept asks: what does your name carry? What history is embedded in how you are called? Understanding name and identity across cultures requires excavating these genealogies—not to be trapped by them but to understand their weight and choose consciously what you inherit and what you resist. Sor Juana's tradition teaches that knowing your name's genealogy is knowing your position in larger structures of power and meaning.