Seonghae Kim

01/26/2022

Behind My Name

Everyone has their own stories behind their name, depending on the time period, area, religion, and society’s value, the stories can differ. Like everyone else, I have my own story of when I was about to be named Seonghae Kim, the characters in Korean are 김성해. 

At that time, when I was in my mother’s womb, there was not a single machine to detect the fetus's gender. My parents wished I was a boy, but unfortunately, I happened to be a girl not the boy that they desperately wanted me to be. Here is one question you might want to ask. Why was knowing my gender so important for my parents? I was born and raised under a patriarchal and very conservative culture where women’s social status was much lower than men's. On September 20th, 1995, I was born in a small village in North Korea. Back in the day, the womanly beauty of society was submissiveness, so women were taught strictly by their parents to be kind, obedient to their husbands and all other men. In addition, women have generally named something like spring, flower, summer, and other similar names. However, unlike others, my name was like a boy’s name. 

My father named me in hopes I became a strong and independent woman. He believed that one’s name was very important because it led to their character. I was told by my grandmother that people around my father advised him not to give me such a strong name, but sure enough, he insisted. Whether or not my name is from his own intentionality or his consciousness, I have been grateful to my father for naming me Seonghae Kim because he did not want me to be conventional, but instead, he wanted me to be strong enough to be myself.