I have had students with Americanized nicknames because it was "too challenging" for people to pronounce their name correctly. This student didn't seem like they minded, but when asked to pronounce their "real name," their face lit up. Students want adults (and peers) to care about them and their lives. The Hollywood story makes me sad, because I find it true that we try harder with difficult names when the individual is of a white majority culture. I don't believe that the "inconvenience" of trying to pronounce a difficult name is worth the price of a student feeling they have lost a piece of their identity.
