Your name is one of the most important things surrounding your identity. It’s one of the first words you hear repeatedly as a baby, one of the first words you learn to write as a child, what you hear ringing through the auditorium when you graduate high school or college, and the one you are most proud to see when you are recognized for an accomplishment as an adult. You hear and use your name every day and it’s part of who you are as an individual.

I frequently am asked about my name. My name, Fiona Ma is a combination of my heritage and parent’s history. When my father received an engineering scholarship to the University of Glasgow, my parents moved to Scotland and that was where I was conceived. My mother loved the Scottish name Fiona and my surname – Ma, means “horse” in Chinese and serves as a reminder to my roots and heritage.

What you call yourself is important; that’s why I was proud to carry the Name Equality Act during my time in the legislature. The Name Equality Act (AB 102) affords California domestic partners and married spouses the option to choose a family name, regardless of their gender, when they register as a domestic partner or get married.

Why is that important? Before this law, women had the option and a process in place to change their name when they marry, but domestic partners and men faced costly and lengthy court proceedings to change their last names. With this law enacted, California became the first state to allow domestic partners to change their names on the domestic partnership registration form. This year marks the anniversary of the bill’s passage and while I’m not saying you should change your last name to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to mark the occasion, we can all celebrate since domestic partners are able to join not only their lives, but their names as well when they start their new life together.

In the decade since this legislation passed, California’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Legislative Caucus (the first official caucus of openly-LGBT state legislators in the nation) continues to be active in proposing legislation to promote equality and justice for all Californians. California’s students have been afforded the opportunity to learn more about LGBT individuals and their struggles since the passage of SB 48 (Leno) in 2011 allowed the California State Board of Education to vote to include contributions from the community in history and social science instruction.

This is especially meaningful as we participate in LGBT Pride Month, celebrated each year in June to remember the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact and contributions of LGBT individuals. Thanks to SB 48, students now have a chance to learn the history behind this annual celebration.

Part of studying the past is understanding history, herstory, and yourstory. Names matter in history because your name is the word that personifies your legacy. As Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote said “Words have meaning, but names have power.”

I’m proud of my name, Fiona Ma, and I’m honored to have sponsored AB 102 that gives everyone the ability to be able to choose a common last name to celebrate their choice to become a family.