What's in a name?

A few months ago after our programme coordinator sent a mass e-mail to us future students, I developed the penchant for google-searching for the names of my would-be classmates starting October to trace where they come from. Chinese and Hispanic names looked apparent, while some just sounded new to my ears. The extension names of the e-mail addresses are also dead giveaways- .ca, .au, .es, etc. With our programme being an international one, I was able to trace names coming from Ghana, Cameroon, and Pakistan.

I was not alone in this name game though. I met one future classmate who wondered where I came from based from my name, which is a combination of Dutch and English for my first name, and Spanish for my surname. She assumed I came from a country nearby those countries where my name was derived, and she though I must probably be French!