Jose and Maria

It’s official. I have met too many people named Jose and Maria. I bumped into an acquaintance I met long ago and just to mess around I said, “What’s up Jose.” His response, “I didn’t think you would remember my name, how are you?” You gotta be kidding me, I didn’t know that was his real name. Dismissing it as a coincidence, I tried it a second time with an elderly woman that lives by my house. I’m always courteous and say hello to her when I pass by. This time I stopped and decided to start a conversation. “Hello Maria, how are you?” Her response, “call me Jazmin, nobody calls me by my first name anymore…” Get. Out. Of. Here. I had never asked her for her name and yet I guessed right. Was it a coincidence? I often make a joke about how something is so old that you can find it in The Bible. Well guess what, “Jose” and “Maria” ARE IN The Bible!

The name Jose is so popular, we even have a famous Mexican singer named “José José”. Chido. I have a friend with the last name “Maria”. I have a feeling he will one day marry a “Maria”. From that moment on his wife will be known as “Maria Maria”. Double chido.

OK raza, we live in the 2000’s, we can be more creative than that. To still choose either of those two names as your son or daughter’s name is like choosing a taco over enchiladas. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes there’s nothing like a good simple taco, but an enchilada is a more sophisticated version of a taco and not too much of a stretch for those traditionalists that want to keep it cultural. Don’t be boring. We have so many fresh and sophisticated Mexican names to choose from. Challenge yourself the next time you give birth or father a child.

Mix things up is all I’m saying. Unlike Fox News, to prove my unbiased opinion on this matter, all I’m gonna say is that there are at least 30 Marias in my family, including my momma, and I love my momma…I would never talk smack about my momma.