Kate Montana: What's in a Name?

What’s in a name? For Kate Montana, the answer is entwined with complex questions about history and identity.

“What’s your name?” they ask. “Kate Montana,” I say proudly. The Montana name often evokes questions like, “Are you related to Joe?” or “Are you related to Hannah?” I laugh along, but the connection to my name was frayed before I was even born.

My paternal grandfather, Lawrence Montana, was born Lawrence Montaño. When he joined the United States Air Force, there was supposedly a clerical error that recorded his name in his official documents as Montana. He told me he just never bothered to change it back, but I wonder if Grandpa Larry felt a need to assimilate by assuming the all-American-sounding name of Montana.

I am unsure if I should claim the family name that eluded me. The Montana name has certainly given me privilege. Bearing the name of a U.S. state invites less bias on job applications than the Spanish Montaño. I wonder, though, if Montaño is even our true ancestral name or if it is the result of another colonizer’s attempt to name our family.

Grandpa Larry’s dad, my great-grandpa John, was Indigenous, a member of the Tiwa tribe of Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico. As my ancestors resisted colonization, should I follow in their footsteps by reclaiming the name Montaño that was taken away from me by the American government? Or is it not true resistance since Montaño may really be the name given to my ancestors by colonizing Spaniards? It’s complicated, but, as a mixed person, there is nothing new about that.

I often feel like I need permission to be the version of myself who shares a name with my relatives and ancestors. I do not want to be disrespectful by claiming something to which I have less connection in my lived experience; I do not face many of the challenges associated with being Indigenous or Mexican, given my light skin and native English language from my mother’s side. I yearn for connection to my Mexican roots but do not want to further colonize the Montaño name. I am proud of the name I currently hold, but my questions about the Montaño name remain. Clearly, there can be a lot of history, pain, and resistance in a name.

With a Perspective, I’m Kate Montana.

Kate Montana is a lifelong learner and wants to do all she can to get to know the natural world and how it operates. She is a researcher at a science museum and research institute. When she is not exploring scientific phenomena, she can be found playing dodgeball, running, biking, or sharing a meal with loved ones.