Marie Miranda Cruz: Hi, my name is Marie Miranda Cruz. I'd like to talk about the evolution of my name.

Miranda is my maiden name, and Cruz is my married name. I was born as Maria Victoria Miranda. And in the Philippines, most people there have two first names. So when I moved here to the States, my second first name became my middle name. So when I grew up here in the States, where I went from second grade to sixth grade, my middle name was considered Victoria. So I was known as Maria V. Miranda. Then I went back to the Philippines for high school and college, and I once again became Maria Victoria Miranda.

One of the things that's interesting is my nickname Marie and where it came from. When I was born, my mother called me Mari-Vic. My aunts on my father's side didn't like that, so they started inventing my nickname. They called me Z, Marie Z, and then it finally evolved to just Marie.