Use of 'are' or 'were' for this past tense sentence

The boys are Liam and Ethan.

My eight year old student is explaining her choice of 'are' rather than 'were' in this sentence from a past tense recount of her weekend, stating that the boys are still friends, so using 'were' would imply there had only temporarily been friends.

So, is 'are' correct or should it still be 'were'?