Lost Names

[Kurt Hansen]

Lost Names:

Names have been lost all over the world. I never knew of the renaming process in Korea under Japan’s occupation. Colonization has caused  a large amount of the world’s population to change surnames. The Spanish were the leaders in sea exploration. They had a wide reach.Countries in South America and the Philippines all have Spanish surnames. I have to admit, I don’t know what true Phillipino surnames were before the Spanish. In South America and Mexico the only non-Spanish surnames come from the Yucatan Peninsula and interestingly enough, the most common native name is Chan. (No connection to the Chinese). Another group that lost their names are the Africans sent to America as slaves. For centuries one way of showing dominance over another is taking away their name and with that, taking away their identity. I think that the fact that Koreans stayed in their homeland and the Japanese were soon booted out of Korea, they were able to keep hold of their culture and get back their names and identities back.