In 2010, the US census reported that 2.9% of the population, about 9 million people, identified with multiple races. In 2000, 727,197 people identified as white and Asian. Before 2000, this was not even an option on the census.

When I fill out the ethnicity question on a form, I always hope for the “2 or more” or “Other” checkbox. If those two don’t exist, I end up checking “Asian”. It used to be because I considered myself more Asian than white, but recently I’ve begun to question that. Nowadays, I would still check “Asian” because I’m afraid someone down the line will question what a “white person” is doing with an Asian last name (though it’s completely reasonable).

I am a half white, half Chinese, female studying Computer Science. In other words, I am in one of the smallest possible cohorts. Statistically speaking, females are around 30% of the tech industry. Google’s diversity report from last year calculated that 4% of their employees identify as mixed race. At my university, 16% of CS undergrads are women. The only major with this small a representation of women is engineering. Multiply the percentages of females in tech and of mixed race and you’re down to 1.2%. I’m a minority even in the minority.

A few months ago, I had a job interview with one of the top 5 tech companies in the United States. My first of four interviewers of the day was of Chinese descent. His first question? What was the deal with my last name? He had never heard it before and literally told me that my family must have made it up. At the time, I took his statement lightheartedly, but looking back, it makes me angry. Surely he didn’t mean anything by it, he just wanted to make small talk before getting to the difficult questions, but it hurt nonetheless. Being so uninformed about own history, I felt incapable of defending myself. Here was a guy who knew nothing about me except for what was on my resume and the fact that I was only half Chinese (which I begrudgingly had to add), telling me that I did not belong to part of my own culture. This was unacceptable, not to mention completely ridiculous. I am aware of at least 3 other people that go to my university with the same last name. Funnily enough, one of them is also half Chinese, half white. And anyway, aren’t all surnames essentially made up?