Tres Marias

Over the years I have given Colleen a lot of grief about her middle name. You see, she shares the middle name Ann with her sister. For some reason I find it amusing and odd that they have the same middle name. I have even asked her dad why he decided to give both of his daughters the same middle name. None of his sons have the same middle name. He says he liked the name Ann and it was easier to give them the same name. Well......I will no longer give Colleen a hard time about her shared middle name. Nice of me right? Not really when you hear why I will stop harassing her. I have found something even more amusing here in Bolivia.

I have an 8th grade student who is the middle of 5 kids. She has two younger brothers (Juan Alfredo, and Josue). She has two older sisters and this is the funny part. Their names are Maria and Maria. Yes, all three daughters share not a middle name, but a first name. I actually laugh every time I think about it. So I have Maria Edith in my class. Her 10th grade sister is Maria Carmen and the oldest is Maria Jose. Does anyone else find humor in this?

I am actually struggling with some of the names in my classes. In San Francisco I had maybe a handful of kids who shared a first name. I also had a lot of interesting names from Shu-yi to Gerrine, Jamila to Unique! Down here I have a ridiculous number of repeat names. I have three Andreas in one class. Two Jose Miguels and two Jose Manuels who I am forever confusing. I have 4 Marias (not related to previous mentioned Marias) Maria Fernanda (goes by MaFer) Maria-Cristina, Maria Valeria (goes by Valeria) and of course Maria Edith. I have a Michael and Johnathan in one class who I confuse to no end as I think about my own two brothers. I have two Daniels and a Daniella in on class, all of whom answer when I call on any one of them. When parents came in for back to school night, I had to really think about who their kid was as several faces popped into my head at the mention of one name. One parent told me that my name is very Latin. How cool, I have a Latin sounding name even without the ana to the end of it!!