What's in a name?

Throughout my life I have been lucky enough to have many nicknames. Some of them I have picked myself, others were bestowed upon me by others. Names such as Sally and Smac were popular in my high school and college years. I have tried to go back to Sarah, since that is my given name and I quite like it. I have had no problems being a full time Sarah with my western friends but Japanese people is another story.

I like being called Sara-san and Sara-sensei. Gives me the feeling of power and importance (none of which I truly deserve). After my students got used to me they mainly called me Sara. It is funny because in America you would never call your teacher by just their first name, well actually you wouldn't in Japan either. I guess I am just an exception to the rule (as usual). Sara actually means plate in Japanese. So technically I am a plate. Some elementary students then began to call me Sarada which is pronounced in Japanese 'Salada' which means Salad. So now I am a plate and a salad. My last name is also very interesting for a Japanese person to pronounce. In Japanese it is 'Makunamara' which is difficult for them to say and sounds like Makudonarudo which is McDonalds. So now I am called McDonalds as in the restaurant. Plate, Salad and McDonalds humm all of those are to do with food. Now my eighth grade boys can pronounce my last name fairly properly. This is bringing me back to my high school guy friends who just called me by my last name. So now the boys in class say, 'Hey Makunamara'. There are benefits to having many names. When a person knocks on your door at 3am asking for Sally and they get confused because your roommates tell them there is no Sally here, you are saved. An alias keeps a person mysterious.