Celebrate diversity in your classroom by highlighting the importance of student names. Set the tone at the beginning of the year (and every day!) with these heartwarming naming books to teach kids about empathy, culture, and identity.
(note: weareteachers can earn a few cents if you shop using our links, at no additional cost to you).
You are reading: Books about your name
1. yangsook choi’s name jar
Recently moved from Korea, Unhei can’t wait for American kids to like her. Instead of showing up on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will be picking a name out of a jar for the following week.
2. alma and how she got her name by juana martinez-neal
what’s in a name? For a girl, her very long name tells the vibrant story of where she came from and who she may one day be.
3. you stole my name from dennis mcgregor
How and why were some animals named after other animals? This book is a clever collection of animals with similar names and a coordinating 4-line poem for each illustration. use it to talk about how names are created!
4. my name is an ekuwah mends moses address
a gps system takes you where you’re going, but its name might lead you to what you’re looking for. This author uses the letters of the alphabet to show her family, history, culture, language, geography, and more.
5. hello my name is ruby by philip c. place
This is one of the sweetest name books for students! Join ruby, a brave little birdie, as she adventures through life, making new friends, learning new skills, and asking questions that can have very surprising results.
6. my name is elizabeth! by annika dunlee, illustrated by matthew forsythe
meet elizabeth. she has a great pet duck, a loving grandfather, and a name that is just amazing. after all, she has a queen named after her! so she doesn’t really like it when people insist on using nicknames like lizzy and beth.
7. my name is yoon by helen recorvits, illustrated by gabi swiatkowska
yoon’s name means “brilliant wisdom”. when he writes it in Korean, he looks happy, like dancing figures, but his father tells him that he should learn to write it in English. in english, all the lines and circles are alone, that’s how yoon feels in the united states.
8. my name is bilal by asma mobin-uddin, illustrated by barbara kiwak
See Also: A Jack Ryan Novel (chronological order) Audiobooks | Audible.com
A boy struggles with his Muslim identity until a compassionate teacher helps him understand more about his heritage.
9. andy, that’s my name by tomie depaola
Andy may be the smallest kid on the block, but he’s a big deal. he has a car full of letters that spell his name, and he drives him wherever he wants to go. you could probably spell your own book list on names!
10. your name is a song by jamilah thompkins-bigelow, illustrated by luisa uribe
Frustrated by a day full of teachers and classmates mispronouncing her beautiful name, a girl tells her mother she doesn’t want to go back to school. In response, the girl’s mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, African-American, Latino, and Middle Eastern names in her lyrical walk to her house around town.
11. chrysanthemum by kevin henkes
chrysanthemum thinks her name is absolutely perfect, until her first day of school. “You have the name of a flower!” she mocks victory. “let’s sniff it,” she says jo. the chrysanthemum withers. what does it take to make it bloom again?
12. thunder boy jr. by sherman alexie, illustrated by yuyi morales
thunder boy jr. he wants a normal name… one that is all his own. Dad is known as Big Thunder, but Little Thunder doesn’t want to share a name.
13. my name is konisola by alisa siegel
on a frigid winter night, nine-year-old konisola and her mother step off a plane in canada. They’re running for their lives when Konisola’s mother falls ill and Konisola is forced to fend for herself in a strange country. Will they be allowed to stay as refugees or will they both be sent back across the ocean?
14. a, my name is alice from jane baye
This is one of the dumbest books on names! Meet Barbara the bear with balloons for sale in Brazil, Ned from New York, the merman who owns a noodle emporium, and finally Zebra and Zebu, Zelda and Zach from Zambia who sell zippers.
15. how nivi got her names by laura deal, illustrated by charlene chua
nivi always knew her names were special, but she doesn’t know where they come from. One sunny afternoon, Nivi decides to ask his mother for explanations. This book is an easy-to-understand introduction to traditional Inuit naming, with a story that touches on custom Inuit adoption.
16. my name is maría isabel de alma flor ada, illustrated by k. dyble thompson
See Also: Top 5 Books To Learn Audio Engineering – Learnmusicproduction.in
For María Isabel Salazar López, the hardest thing about being the new girl at school is that the teacher doesn’t call her by her real name. “We already have two Marias in this class,” says her teacher. “why don’t we call you maria instead?” Will she be able to find a way to make her teacher see that if she loses her name, she will lose the most important part of herself?
17. my name is sangoel by karen williams and khadra mohammed, illustrated by catherine stock
sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind her homeland of Sudan, where his father was killed in the war, she has little to call her own apart from his name, a Dinka name proudly inherited from her father and his grandfather before him. p>
18. always anjali by sheetal sheth, illustrated by jessica blank
anjali and her friends are excited to get matching personalized plates for their bikes. but anjali can’t find her name. To make matters worse, she is bullied by her name being “different” from her and she is so upset that she demands to change it.
19. a porcupine named fluffy by helen lester
even animals need naming books! fluffy the porcupine is not happy with his name: “so he decided to become more fluffy”. climbs a tree and pretends to be a cloud! it even poses as a pillow. When Fluffy meets a rhinoceros named Hippo, he puts his plight into perspective…and befriends.
20. the store changes your name by leanne shirtliffe, illustrated by tina kügler
Wilma Lee Wu doesn’t like her name, so she goes to the name change shop, where she tries on new names. Every time Wilma selects a new name, she is transported to the country where her name comes from. Will Wilma find a new name that she likes? Will she discover her true identity and the place where she really belongs?
21. ahmed’s secret day by florence parry heide and judith heide gilliland, illustrated by ted lewin
Throughout the day, Ahmed maneuvers his donkey cart through streets packed with cars and camels, alleys lined with merchant stalls and millennia-old buildings. he keeps his secret safe inside. it is so special and wonderful that he can only reveal it to his family when he comes home at the end of the day.
22. yoko writes his name by rosemary wells
yoko is very excited for the first day of school. she just learned to write her name. but when she mrs. Jenkins asks Yoko to show them all, Olive and Sylvia make fun of her Japanese writing. Yoko can’t write. She is just doodling!”
23. cloud and wallfish by anne nesbet
On any given day, Noah’s parents tell him that his name isn’t really Noah, that his birthday isn’t really in March, and that his new home will be East Berlin, on the other side of the Iron Curtain. East Germany seems like the least likely place in the world for an American kid with plenty of secrets of his own to make a friend, but then Noah meets Cloud-Claudia, the lonely girl who lives one floor below.
24. my name is not isabella by jennifer fosberry
Isabella’s heroes include U.S. astronaut sally ride, activist rosa parks and sniper annie oakley, but there’s no greater hero than isabella’s mom! Join Isabella on an adventure of discovery and discover how imagining herself to be these extraordinary women teaches her the importance of being herself.
25. my name is wakawakaloch! by chana stiefel
Fearless, determined, and cunning wakawakaloch learns to embrace what makes her special as she lifts up her Neanderthal community.
Also, check out 12 of our favorite videos to teach kids about friendship.
If these books on name ideas inspired you, join our weareteachers support group and come talk to the same teachers who suggested them!
See Also: The best nature books of 2016 | Best books of the year | The Guardian