I think everyone certainly has "their own name". In the world, there are six billion nine hundred million people so there is a very large number of names too. It must be true, no matter how selfish, lonely, criminal or poor a person is, they have their own name. Of course, I have my own name. My father and mother named me with all their best intentions and love in their hearts. But, you cannot see it at first sight; you just see, "Satomi". I think every name is valuable and proud.

I want to introduce my name once again, my name is Satomi. In Japanese, Satomi changes to "—¢”ü" with Chinese characters. Most people's names nowadays are made by Chinese characters because they carry some meaning. For example, my name "—¢-sato" means hometown and country; "”ü-mi" means beauty. My parents chose these characters for me with the message, "we want you to always think and make much of your family. We hope your heart becomes beautiful; you will be kind to everyone. And we hope you will always be happy with your beautiful smile.�h

In this way, each Japanese name has its own meaning. How about people around the world? First, often European and Americans' names have meanings from Greek and Hebrew. Also, they may put the mother's maiden name into their names. They are rather diverse. Second, in Arab countries, "Muhammad" is a very popular name. It means praise and admire. The names Mahmud, Hamid and Ahmad are derived from it. In Arab culture, people respect their family very much, so their names may come from father and grandfather�fs name, sometimes mother�fs name. My friend who is from Saudi Arabia said, "I cannot say my full name because it is very long." It cannot be true in Japan. Japanese have only last name and first name; we don't have middle names.

By just looking at people's names, we can understand a little bit of the culture of a country. When Japanese name a child, they use their wishes and hopes, but Arabs use relations of faith and things. Surely, I will have my child in the future. Then, I want to spend a lot of time thinking about my baby's name, like my father and mother did when I was born. And I hope my child will be proud of his or her own name, just as I am.