my name

It means river. What kind of name means river? Rio was the weirdest name ever. Too short, too Spanish, and it doesn’t fit me at all. It just didn’t feel right. It was a boring name, and too different. I just thought I would end up with something simpler, something that fit me.

I was named after the Joseph from the Christian bible and I got the name Romario from my parent’s two names, Rosano and Maria. Why didn’t I stick with those names? Well, Joseph was easy to pronounce, but it just didn’t fit me at all. Being called Joseph was weird for me. When people would say my name, I wouldn’t respond. Then I tried Romario, but then they either pronounced it funny or got it mixed up with my last name, Rosano. This was not working.

I used to wish for a new name so that people will not tease me for it, and a name that would be so simple a cat could pronounce it. Then I stopped wishing. I demanded for a new one. Of course I can’t just get a new name just like that, but at least I tried.

The name Romario was just simply too hard to pronounce. They would call me Rosario, Rosano, Ronaro, or just Mario. They never got it right. They murdered the name. One day, someone pronounced it so fast all you could hear was the “rio”. I liked the sound of that. The shortness, the easiness to pronounce, everything. It was the name I always wished of getting. The name I always wanted. So I looked back and responded, “Yes?”

Ever since I heard that name, more people kept calling me it. It I would ask them to or they would just go off calling me that. After that year, everyone called me Rio. It was officially my new name.

People still teased me and called me Rio de Janeiro or Rio Grande and thought they were so funny. Yes the name those mean river and it is a Spanish origin, but the name sounds like me. It’s short, simple, easy and unique. Just like me.

http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/the-chama-river-elena-maza.jpg