Ale Ale-jandro

Alejandro. Commonly used in the Latino community.  In Spanish it’s another way of saying  Alexander. In Greek it means defender of mankind. In America, it’s the name of a Lady Gaga song. My dad is named Alejandro, which is where I got my name from, nothing too amazing about it, I like to believe that I was given that name after a Mexican singer . People pronounce my name in 3 different ways, most people would pronounce it A-leh-jan-dro with and sometimes without a spanish accent. Some, including me at times, pronounce it A-li-jan-dro. However, most my spanish speaking family calls me Alej (pronounced A-leh). When people think about an older latino man, like my father, it causes them to attempt to pronounce the name in Spanish with the idea that he only knows Spanish. Rather with me, a person of this generation, people tend to pronounce it in various ways including with a English accent due to the fact that they expect me to know English. The Greek meaning of my name defines who I want be, a lawyer, someone who makes a lasting impact for generations to come. When I first thought my know, I didn’t think much about it. I just knew it was a Spanish name. When the Lady Gaga song came out, it annoyed, angered and it started to create some resentment towards my name. Today after defining my name and doing this assignment, it brought me at ease to see how my name defines who I am. Even though to others my name will always be known as the song Lady Gaga wrote, to me it means greatness.