Where are you from? 

It's a little complicated, but I'm from Illinois originally, born in Chicago, but raised an hour and a half outside the city. 

Where do you live now? 

I currently live in Oakland, California. 

What is your name? 

Virgil Munyemana. 

What is the meaning behind your name? 

So Virgil is a Latin name, it means staff bearer, so not the most interesting meaning. But I guess the backstory behind it was, I have two older sisters, and my mom named them both, so I was the only one that my dad named. And he's very into science, and he thought Virgil was interesting as a poet. 

Have you ever changed the way that people call you? 

Technically, my name is pronounced Virgil, but when I was younger, I couldn't pronounce it. And then also going to American English speaking schools, I just simplified it. So at home, I'm used to being called like Virgil, or like V for short. But then yeah, I guess public facing, I'm just called Virgil. 

Do you have a nickname? 

I feel like I have one of those names where it's hard to have a good nickname. My friends sometimes say Virg, and my family calls me V. Or like when I was really little, they called me Vivio. I only really let my family call me V. 

How have you experienced navigating your day to day life with your name? 

I guess when I'm called Virgil, it feels more like familial, and it's mainly a greater closeness, just because I'm used to my family calling me that. But at the same time, like, I'm so used to a lot of my friends who are basically my chosen family call me Virgil. So honestly, the difference between the two is the pronunciations, maybe the French one is the more accurate one. It was interesting being abroad. I did a post grad trip in Europe in summer 2022. And I was just staying with family mostly. And I think that was the longest span, I was just called Virgil, continuously. Because I think I was there for like three weeks. So it's kind of interesting, you almost forget like, oh, I'm used to being called Virgil when I'm in the US. 

Extending your identity in digital spaces like social media, how do you name yourself in the digital world? 

I think my first Instagram name was like bombastic Virgil or something. And then there's been so many name changes. I feel like I always try to make them quirky or like to stand out in some way. I'm kind of just biding my time until that @Virgil username opens up. But yeah, it was like Virg.jpg. I think I changed that. I want to say sometime in college, I don't know, maybe I was like this is still not a serious name, but it's definitely more sophisticated than bombastic Virgil.  And then obviously, you know, Instagram is very photo centric. But then it's funny too, because I think technically the file formats like JPEG. I just had to be different. So there is no E in it. And Twitter, I want it to be more humorous, because I take that platform less seriously. But I also still want to be anonymous to where I can freely retweet or like things. Especially with Instagram, it's very photo centric, but it's also specifically saying here's me as a person. My face is attached to everything I do. I also have a public Instagram. So it's like navigating that publicness and having things tied back to you, especially when you're thinking about, right now, when you're seeing people get in trouble for being pro Palestine, or Sudan and other things. On Twitter, It's a lot easier to just be able to do that naturally and not really have to worry about people reporting to your workplace. So that's kind of how I think about at least those two platforms specifically. And then Facebook, I just don't really have anymore. 

Have you ever had trouble naming yourself on digital platforms? 

I've been trying to get a new Instagram name for several months. I can't come up with something different than this. That doesn't sound corny, I guess. But do I resonate with my digital names? I feel like maybe I resonate with my Twitter name the most, I feel like it's the most indicative of my personality. I feel like I'm just generally not a very serious person, at least I don't try to be. But I think with virg.jpg, I am really into photography. So I think that does at least speak to that. It's not like I see it's an interesting relationship navigating that platform strictly because it's more public. So in some ways I feel a bit more like this is the image and reality I'm constructing. But I feel like it is still authentic to me. 

Do you feel resonated with your last name? 

So Munyemana means the children of God in Kinyarwanda. I feel like it's probably natural for a lot of like non-white folks, but I used to be a little frustrated by my last name because when I was in kindergarten, it was just impossible to spell at first. But I think luckily I got over that relatively early and started to appreciate my name, especially learning the meaning behind it. Although I'm not religious, it is just like, I've never been able to visit Rwanda because like my parents fled during the war there, haven't been able to go back. But it's nice to have that name and like to have it tied back to your homeland. And also just when you're out in the wild and you run into other Rwandans, like Mana is such a common ending for Rwandan last names. So it's always nice. It's like as soon as you hear someone say their name, you're like, oh, wait, we're probably like cousins or something, you know, like, I don't know. It just creates that closeness, and connection, which I appreciate.