A Summary of My Names

By Isabela Marinho

Congratulations to Isabela Marinho on winning second place in our Trojan Times Writing Contest! Please read their winning submission below.

I go by many names.

It changes hourly, daily weekly, monthly, and yearly.

My actual name?

Isabela mare de Castro Marinho, but let’s be honest,

no one will spell that right.

That’s why my parents just call me Isabela,

but sometimes it ends up being the dog’s name, or my sisters too.

For little kids, Isabela is too hard to say, so if they’re smart like my sister

they’ll simply change my name to Zabela, with the “I” cut off

and the “s” replaced with a z,

and to this day on my 17^th year alive,

the only name I hear from her is Zabela.

As for Bela, well that’s reserved for my teachers and friends.

It’s a special name, and when my dad calls me it

I immediately tell him to stop.

You see, Bela isn’t just a name, it’s a personality,

It means beautiful in Italian, you know, and in Portuguese too,

But that’s beside the point.

Bela is my sense of humor, my laughter, my creativity and

Nothing against Isabela, she’s just not who I am for most of my day.

When I go to Brazil, I become Isa, she’s like my American “Bela” if you know what I mean.

But when I cry to my mom, I become amorzinho ,which means my little love,

or carrapichio, which is an irksome plant that sticks to your skin,

and you just can’t seem to get rid of.

I have a fondness for all of these names,

If you want to know who I really am and everything about me,

my quick answer will be Isabela Mare de Castro Marinho,

but if I’m being honest, I think Bela is a good way to summarize.