"My Last Name"

As I was reading Guillen's poem, "My last name", I found myself smiling and nodding, as for everything I was reading sounded like reality and questions that seem normal to ask. In his poem, Guillen states that his last name is a "password...that is handed to me...and he carries it on his shoulders always through the streets". Just like he said, a name is something that it is used to identify a person, but in reality, does it really fulfill its purpose? A name cannot tell that person's life stories, and the battles and difficulties they had to go through. Also, as Guillen states in his poem, a name is something that can not truly identify a persons ethnic background, although some people try to do so. But why do we have to carry this name with us always? Why cant we just be individual people with all different last names?