The Politics of Naming and Renaming

Colonial projects depend partly on renaming—imposing new names that erase previous identities and assert dominator authority. Sor Juana's very existence represented a negotiation with naming politics: she used her religious name while maintaining connections to her secular identity and indigenous heritage. This concept examines how people reclaim power through naming practices—recovering suppressed ancestral names, choosing names that honor multiple heritages, refusing names imposed by oppressors, or creating entirely new names that express authentic identity. For formerly colonized peoples, enslaved communities, migrants, and religious converts, renaming becomes acts of resistance and self-determination. A person might reclaim an indigenous name suppressed by colonization, adopt a name honoring both ancestral traditions, or create a name expressing their unique synthesis. In legal systems, renaming often remains restricted, revealing how institutional power attempts to control identity. Across cultures, the right to name and rename oneself—to assert agency over this fundamental identity marker—becomes essential to dignity and self-determination. Sor Juana's negotiation with her own naming demonstrates this political dimension at the heart of identity work.