Why it took 22 years to include an accent mark in my last name - Axios Salt Lake CityLog InLog InAxios Salt Lake City is an Axios company.

Why it took me 22 years to include an accent mark in my last name

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios My colleagues at recently published a great about why some Latino Americans use accent marks in their surnames, while others don't. What they found: The reasoning was a mixture of racism, assimilation and technological barriers.My father, for example, stopped adding the accent mark to his last name, Bojórquez, after moving to the U.S. in the 1980s from Guatemala.He told me it became a burden to correct documents and records that —unintentionally or intentionally— removed it. My story: I didn't start using an accent mark in my last name until I was 22. Context: There's no accent mark on my birth certificate, but I adopted it after a relative created a family history book tracing the Bojórquez lineage in Guatemala to early-1800s Spain. Taking Spanish classes in college also made me realize its importance in the language. Why it matters … to me: I'm proud of my Mexican and Guatemalan heritage, and I want to keep the accent mark that's been used in my family for more than 200 years.It also helps inform people how to pronounce my last name and where to place the emphasis. Yes, but: I've constantly found myself fighting for its place when applying for jobs and setting up social media accounts because it's recognized on computers as a "special character," adjacent to an asterisk or question mark. Some non-Hispanic people I've interacted with in higher education or professional settings think it's optional. The bottom line: It may be tricky to type it on a keyboard, but that shouldn't stop people from using them. Get more local stories in your inbox with .Subscribe Support local journalism by becoming a member.

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