Whether you were named after '70s movie icon John Travolta, or after your father’s dream car, Mercedes, given names all have different stories and meanings.

Interestingly enough, having a traditional name can have some side effect on your daily life. Interviews conducted among Palo Alto students concluded that people with common names often go by nicknames, allowing students like Steven Munoz, a sophomore at Palo Alto College, to go by his last name to be more easily identified at work, school, among friends and even at home.

Individuals with popular names are often mistaken for someone else with a similar name, which can prove to be beneficial or damaging to either party. In one such case, a Palo Alto College student, who wished to remain nameless, confided that he had been wrongly apprehended by a police officer because of a mistake in identity. Although the individual received an apology from the officer, it was his common name that he and the criminal shared that lead officials his direction.

If you’re not happy with your name, changing it can be done by a visit to the Bexar County Courthouse. There, for a fee of $155, you may draw up a petition to file for a change in name before a judge. Upon completion, changes must be made on documents ranging from your driver’s license to your birth certificate.

A large majority of the students surveyed acknowledged that they are pleased with their names. Palo Alto student Jorge Hernandez, a freshman Business major, said, “The cultural background, or the accent it has if pronounced properly, sounds cool, especially when said by a woman.” Most students have grown accustomed to their names and plan to give their children unique or non-traditional names.

What will be a common name in the future is still unknown. Through the decades, popular names have changed for both boys and girls. Names such as Jose, commonly heard in Texas, may be out of the ordinary in other parts of the United States. Social Security Administration research revealed that the popularity of a name can be determined by location, era, culture, movies, fashion, the media, and any other influence on the public.

Whether you were named for your mother, your father, or after Luke Skywalker himself, your name is a part of you. Though your name may seem common now, keep in mind that as time and generations pass onward, your name, much like your clothes, will fade out of popularity. Until current fads change or fade away, names such as Jacob, Samantha and Andrew remain in vogue.