What's in a name? Why a Castro-less Cuba may not mean a changed one.

Reinaldo Flores, an unemployed transit worker in his 50s, walks through the streets of Cerro, one of Havana’s poorest neighborhoods. The street is flanked by once-grand buildings in faded shades of blue, green, and orange.

In some ways, it’s a typical day for Mr. Flores: he’s looking for work. But for him and tens of thousands of others across Cuba, today is also dramatically different.

It’s the first day in his life his president’s named something other than Castro.

Cuba’s National Assembly, a group of more than 600 handpicked politicians who run unopposed, nominated the island’s next president this week. Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the only candidate put forth, will be Cuba’s first leader in nearly 60 years who wasn’t part of