Member-only story
Martin Sheen’s Big Regret Was Almost Mine
Why I Considered Changing My Name
Martin Sheen was President Bartlet. He was Captain Queenan. He was Captain Willard. Martin Sheen has played iconic roles in a wonderful career on the big and small screens. And he did it using a stage name. His real name is Ramón Estévez. Changing his name, he said recently in an interview with Closer Weekly, is one of his big regrets. It was almost mine too. When I went to college, I considered changing my name from “Pablo” to “Paul.”
From kindergarten until high school, my name didn’t draw special attention. My elementary school was predominantly Latino. “Pablo” was normal there. That changed in high school, which was overwhelmingly non-Latino white. Teenagers being teenagers, they homed in on what they considered a peculiarity. So, they hazed me. The following is an inexhaustive list of the names I was called: Paco. Taco. Pedro. Pueblo. Pico. Pepe. Peepee.
They called me Mexican, intended as a slur. They made fun of the way I spoke. Apparently, I had an accent. That was news to me. At first, it was hurtful. I was different and they wanted me to know that. After a while, it was just exhausting.
“Pablo? Like Picasso?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, like Escobar?”
