What English Took.

For decades, I did a lot of work with Korean businesspeople. Their names read like a Hollywood cast of the time.

Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Bruce Willis were the megastars. I met a handful of Harrys, Bruces, and Kevins.

They chose those names to acclimate to American ears.

At Ellis Island, it is said, officials changed immigrants’ last names to make assimilation easier. Nobody asked whose assimilation they were trying to ease.

Historians say it rarely happened. Most names were changed later, by the immigrants themselves. The story survives because it is easier to say a name was taken than to explain why someone might give it up.

My name is Víctor. With an accent. Not a dot on the i.

English hears the stress. It just doesn’t write it down.

The accent on the í disappeared on my first Parsons ID. I never claimed it back.

It was bad enough that English took the accent. Dominicans took the c.

My daughters do it when they want my attention. “Vitor.”

/ˈbi.toɾ/

No c, and a soft r at the end.

Nobody took that one. They gave it to me.

Missing a mark and a letter. It has never sounded more like my name.