Actually, my name is Marjorie and how people refer to me depends on which point in my life did they meet me. For example, my family and relatives call me Payat, the Filipino word for skinny because I was stick-thin when I was a kid. Parents call me by my full name, Marjorie if they weren't calling me hoy (hey) or psst... to call my attention. My classmates, colleagues, and friends refer to me as Marj or Marge. I've also been called Gie, Jo, Margie, Jorgie, Mar, Bunso like I have multiple personalities and people feel the need to put a name to a version of me that only they can see.

But now I go by Mara, a name that I've decided for myself. I got the idea because I wanted to have a Filipino-sounding name. You see, while our fellow Southeast Asians carry names that are clearly based on their language, such a Nguyen for Vietnamese, Somchai for Thai, Budi for Indonesian, we Filipinos have American names and Spanish surnames, e.g. Catherine Mendoza, Jonathan Espiña. Blame it on hundreds of years of colonization or our weird fascination with western culture, but I digress.

Then one day, I just thought, what if I was born with a Filipino name, what would I want it to be?

I searched for Filipino terms and came across the word, marahuyo, which means to be enchanted. I was immediately enchanted, pun intended, that I decided, this is it, it will be my Filipino name.

Now how do I get everyone to call me marahuyo especially people who have known me for years? The answer is simple, I should shorten it because even when the word itself is technically not long, Filipinos like to use short nicknames to refer to people.

And that's how Mara was born. I told everyone about it and "trained" my close friends to call me Mara through our chat groups. I also changed my username on Facebook and Instagram with this name, this way, whenever people tag or mention me, they will be using my new nickname.

I also started introducing myself to new acquaintances with this name. At a Starbucks, I tell the barista to write Mara on my coffee cup. Soon, people around me, at least those I engage with regularly, have started referring to me by this new name.

By the way, I'm new to Hive

Hello Hivers, nice to meet you here. Apologies, I know I just wrote a novel explaining my preferred name, but I can't think of an interesting way to introduce myself to you.

To give more information about myself, I work as a knowledge specialist for an IT company based in Australia. I'm also a little bit of everything, I'm a blogger since 2010 and my blog is called, Coffeehan, I'm a small-time Youtuber (check out my YouTube Channel) because I need to keep up with the times, and I'm also a self-proclaimed poet and a future book author (#ClaimingIt).

My other passions in life include reading books, traveling, playing mobile games, and checking out different cafes. I love coffee, cut me and I'll definitely bleed coffee.

And so through this page, I hope to share my life's passions with you all.

I will be posting travel tips, cafe reviews, and sometimes, personal thoughts and stories. I hope you will join me on this journey.