21 Books About Children and their Names

These titles about children contemplating their names offer opportunities to discuss family stories and histories, self-esteem, and more. 

 

Picture books

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Dragonfly. 2003.

How Nivi Got Her Names by Laura Deal, illus. by Charlene Chua. Inhabit Media. 2017.

My Name Is Elizabeth! by Annika Dunklee, illus. by Matthew Forsythe. Kids Can. 2011.

The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland, illus. by Ted Lewin. 1995.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow. 1991.



 

Tomatoes in My Lunchbox by Constantia Manoli, illus. by Magdalena Mora. Roaring Brook. Jun. 2022.

My Name Is an Address by Ekuwah Mends Moses. EduMatch. 2021.

Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illus. by Luisa Uribe. Innovation. 2020.

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. Candlewick. 2018.

 

 

G My Name Is Girl by Dawn Masi. Doubleday. 2021.

My Name Is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River by Jane Medina, illus. by Fabricio Vanden Broeck. WordSong. 1999.

My Name Is Bilal by Asma Mobin-Uddin, illus. by Barbara Kiwak. Astra. 2005.

My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvits, illus. by Gabi Swiatkowska. Square Fish. 2014.

Always Anjali by Sheetal Sheth, illus. by Jessica Blank. Mango and Marigold. 2018.

 

 

That’s Not My Name! by Anoosha Syed. Viking. Jul. 2022.

The Change Your Name Store by Leanne Shirtliffe, illus. by Tina Kügler. Sky Pony. 2014.

Hello, My Name Is Ruby by Philip C. Stead. Roaring Brook. 2013.

Yoko Writes Her Name by Rosemary Wells. Hyperion. 2008.

 

 

Chapter books

My Name Is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada, illus. by K. Dyble Thompson. S. & S. 1993.

My Name Is Konisola by Alisa Siegel. Second Story. 2020.

My Name Is Sangoel by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illus. by Catherine Stock. Eerdmans. 2009.
 


Gail Cornwall is a San Francisco–based freelance writer.

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