Where are you from? 

I'm from Long Island, New York. 

Where do you live now?

I live in Bushwick. 

What is your name? 

My name is Lateshia. 

What is the meaning behind your name? 

The meaning behind my name in Latin, the root is Latin, and that means joyful or happy. That's a Latin meaning in terms of my culture. 

How did you get your name? 

I got my name from my parents who went into a baby book and they found a name that was Leticia and then also Latisha and they kind of combined them together. They just put it together and then, I have the I between the H and the A in my name, it's silent. That's how my name came to be. Baby book. 

Have you ever changed your name? 

I always went by my name. I never changed it. I don't know why, though. I grew up not liking it. I always thought it was just, it's too ethnic, too not American. But I never changed my name. I have friends who would give me nicknames. I have a nickname in my family, but never changed my name. 

What is your nickname? 

The nickname is Tesh. My friend calls me Tesh. And then my family, they call me Teshia. So that's a shortened version of my name. 

How have you navigated your daily life with your name? 

I think with small things, I don't really think about it that much. I kind of like how unique it is, honestly, now. And I think even, you know, when I think of my name, I've been coming more into my Aquarian-ness, and I feel like it really aligns with that. And I also feel like in terms of joyful and happy, the meaning of the name, I feel like it's fulfilled in some ways, like how I am. I feel like I'm a pretty happy, joyful kind of person. And I like that. My name is tied to that. In some ways, I am that.

Do you resonate with your given name? 

Yeah, I resonate with it. I think there can be times when I don't. But, yeah, I feel like I resonate with it in its uniqueness and its meaning. And I guess maybe even the cultural aspect of it, too. I don't know if this is just about first names, but I have like two middle names as well, Cecilia and Akiba.

Do you ever resonate with your middle names? 

I always put Cecilia. I never really put on Akiba, which is, you know, I love them both. Akiba is after my cousin. And Cecilia, I think, is probably an older family member, relative. Like maybe like a great grandpa or something like that. But I don't really resonate with them as much as I do Lateshia. But I do really like Akiba. I wouldn't mind if that was my name. But it's not.

Do you ever go by them? 

No, never went by those names. I always thought about Cecilia. I thought I could. But I just always stuck with my name. And I'm glad I did. More often than not, a lot of like immigrants or like first-gen American children end up going with shorter versions of their name in order to assimilate and make themselves more palatable for American people. White American people. White America. Who knows? Whatever the culture is here. It's sad that people can't embrace different cultures and things that just like mean a lot. Things that kind of like, you know, make up a part of their identity and the way that they exist and show up in this world. So I always made space for my full name in everything. 

How have you been naming yourself in the digital world?

I have my full name as my Instagram handle. I used to have different names or I had Chai Tea Lateshia or something like that. Because somebody messed up my name when I went to Starbucks. And I was like, oh, this is funny. So let me put it as that. That was at a time when I didn't really appreciate my name in the way that I do now. From what I remember, I'd write my name down, there was always a red line under it because it was detected as spelled wrong. So I mean, in digital spaces, it doesn't exist. My name doesn't exist, but it does. It's real. So Google better change this shit. These little technologies and things better get to work. So I don't know why I'm the problem. 

Do you like your digital name? What is it right now?

It's just 1ateshia, so it's like my name, but the L is replaced with a one. I like it. I think it's cool.I like the fact that my name is my profile. And it's just simply that. It's not, you know, anything else. I wouldn't change it to anything else, honestly. I think it's just me. 

Did you run into any problems when you were deciding on your digital name? 

Somebody probably took my name with no other changes to it. But that was so I could circumnavigate just having my whole name. Like me having the way my name is spelled in my Instagram was the only way that I could get it to be just one thing with no underscores or anything else in it. So I guess I came into issues with it not having any numbers or letters or underscores or anything else like that.

Do you think the digital self in some ways is an extension of how you stand on how you feel about your own given name in some ways?

I don't think about it that way, but that's an interesting way to think about my name. I guess so. Yeah, but I also kind of feel with the digital world. I feel like I portray a certain side of myself that isn't everything. So it's definitely a side of me. Maybe the performer in me or the more extroverted exterior part, I guess. But there's lots of sides of me. So I guess there have been some pieces of me in my digital persona, but not everything.