Names are incredibly important in this book, as the narrator establishes in the opening chapter when he is determined to earn himself a street name. There is a status implied in names, and each of the book’s major characters has acquired a new name. Julio is Chino, a name earned by his high cheekbones and his propensity to fight. Due to his large lips, Enrique becomes Sapo. Nancy is Blanca due to her purity; her sister Deborah is known as Negra for being the exact opposite. Veronica becomes Vera to hide her Puerto Rican roots. William Irizarry becomes Willie Bodega, a name that connects him more to the people of el barrio, but he operates his business as the Harry Goldstein Real Estate Agency to gain legitimacy in the wider world of Manhattan. Even the school Chino attends has two names—Junior High School 99 and Julia de Burgos, a name that is ridiculed by a white teacher as a means of capitulating to the changing ethnicity of the neighborhood.

Although each character acquires a new name in a different way and for a different purpose, the result always comes down to a form of status and respect.