names

[This is an old post from Chile, and I don't know why I never published it. Looks like I started writing it on August 25, 2010.]

Occasionally a student gets a little huffy that I don't remember her name. (It's always a girl, I assume because I'm a cute guy and being huffy is what 15-year old girls do. Anna says it's because they all have crushes on me.) They also complain that I have an easier time remembering the boys. I explain that not only do I have 270 students, who I see an hour a week or less, but there are fewer boys (about 5:1 in my classes), and they have a wider variety of names. Most of my girls (black hair and dark brown eyes, with a handful of exceptions) are named:

Daritza

Yarikza

Deyanira

Yanira

Danila

Daniela

Katina

Karina (3 in one class)

Katarina

Katalina

Katherine

Camila (4 in one class)

Javiera (3 in one class)

Mariela

Mariana

María

María José

María Paz

Maripaz

Marisol

Consuela

Consuelo

Constanza

Valery

Valeria

Francisca

Francis

Helen

Allen

Hellen

And Helen and Hellen get annoyed when I pronounce their names wrong.