In October 2006 I did some reading, writing and art on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. My students wrote essays and made posters about the origin of their first name. Next they exchanged their writing with students from Brazil and Georgia. They posted their writing at the forum of the My Name iEARN international project.

Here is an essay written by a sophomore.

My name is Vasilena and in Greek it means "divine light" or "the light of the kings." Many people in Bulgaria celebrate their names and my name day is on 1 January. I get presents and it is very funny. My uncle and my granddad are called Vasil and my great-grandmother's name is Elena, so my parents combined the names and the result was Vasilena. My nickname is Vasi - all my friends call me that way. My first name is not a family tradition. My mum chose the name because her favorite writer is Iordan Iovkov and one of his favorite main characters is Vasilena.

Between 1901 and 1970 out of all women born in Bulgaria only 27 were named so.

I like my name - it is not like the others. In case that I were called Maria - this is a very common name in Bulgaria – I would be very sad and unhappy about this. I would not like to christen myself under a new name. I will never change my name because Vasilena is like the real me!