Mary Sullivan: Hello, my name is Mary Sullivan. That's the name I was born with, Mary Louise Sullivan actually, but I don't use my middle name as my writing name I think because I got teased so much growing up. My brothers and sisters would call me Mary Lou, and I hated it. I was the sixth child of eleven and I think by the time my parents got to me, they were short on names. They couldn't think of one, so they named me Mary, the same name as my mother. And I love that name because it crosses so much time, centuries of time, and it is a name that so many countries and continents use in different forms. Miriam, Maria, Marie, Marion. The name Mary also has a sense of mystery and depth because it is both the name of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and also Mary Magdalene's name. It's the name of queens and royalty, and it is a name for common folk. I used to think it was boring and there were too many of us, too many Mary Sullivans, but now it seems like it's the right name for me. Mary comes from the words bitter, rebellious, beloved, and the sea, and Sullivan means dark eyes or black-eyed one. I love that. Hardly anyone mispronounces my name, but some of the boys I coach, seventh and eighth grade boys, call me Merry, M-E-R-R-Y, which I like. And I used to be nicknamed Sully or I was one of the Sullies. Now I am Mary Sullivan, and I love that name because it belongs to the world and it is my very own.