El Apellido Nicolas Guillen English Translation -

Look at the line: "with a branding iron in hand / with an iron on the nape of their necks." Enslaved people were literally branded like cattle. Guillén argues that the branding iron replaced the surname. The slave owner’s last name (Guillén, López, Fernández) was the brand. The true African name was the one burned away.

Guillén compares his last name to a scar and a stolen ring. For English readers, think of Native American renaming or African slaves given English/Portuguese names. The poem universalizes the trauma of forced naming. el apellido nicolas guillen english translation

Apellido means "surname" or "last name." The translation choice between "The Last Name" vs. "The Surname" is stylistic. "The Last Name" feels more visceral in English. Look at the line: "with a branding iron

Yes. Several anthologies include translations. The most respected is by Robert Márquez in Man-Making Words: Selected Poems of Nicolás Guillén (University of Massachusetts Press, 2003). The translation provided in this article synthesizes Márquez’s academic rigor with a more contemporary poetic flow. The true African name was the one burned away