I GUESS I SHOULD THANK MY PARENTS BECAUSE being named “Jessica” has forced me to develop a personality. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. Having such a common name drove me to create an identity unlike my peers.

As of last year, “Jessica” was ranked the 42nd most popular name for girls. Between 1980 and 2000, however, it was number one for nearly every year. It is currently the 5th most popular in the United Kingdom and in the top 10 of New Zealand and Australia.

An early occurrence of the name is in William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” where the Jewish character Shylock’s daughter is named Jessica. She is so embarrassed by the treatment of other Jews that she denounces her religion and runs off to marry. The name has a Hebrew meaning of “God beholds” and “wealthy”.

In kindergarten I was one of three Jessicas in my class so we got reduced to the first initial of our last name. It was like that until about freshman year of high school. What made matters worse was that one of the other Jessicas lived down the street from me, was also Hispanic, and also had a little brother named Anthony. People often asked if we were sisters. Through elementary and middle school I developed a reputation of the only girl class clown and pretty much a bully. I received detention numerous times in middle school and got sent on the wall in elementary. My fellow Jessicas were, in turn, quiet and reserved like any good girl should be.

In high school, I reinvented myself every year, settling for someone who got voted Most Unique Style for senior year. I’m talking big poodle dresses with red Converse shoes that have been written on with polka-dot raincoats. I was even sophomore class president, but I credit my pop-culture signs more than anything.

Today there seems to be less Jessica’s in my classes, but that doesn’t stop people from getting me confused with others. I have that ambiguous face that gets mistaken frequently and gets compared to a wide variety of celebrities. I’ve been told I look like Sara Ramirez who plays Dr. Torres on “Grey’s Anatomy,” Kat Von D from “L.A. Ink,” Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhall and most recently, Selma Blair.

I also get referred to as the famous Jessicas. One of my customers at work asked if anyone has ever called me Jessica Rabbit simply because of my first name, which makes absolutely no sense. Others call me “Jessica Alba,” while an intoxicated customer one July 4th night thanked “Jessica Simpson” for helping him. That’s not including the random individuals who mistakenly call me “Jennifer.”

Needless to say, the whole situation smells of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue.” I’ve learned my lesson of identity creation, but I refuse to subject my child to such a game of life. Jessica Alba has gone on record stating that she named her newborn daughter Honor because her name was so “bland.” Now, I’m not going to call my future kids Apple, Audio Science, Rocket or Coco, but I’m going to do a little research before slapping a name on them. I’ve been told that if I were a boy, I would have been named Cory. Maybe I would have not gone through so many detention sessions if they just stuck with that instead of Jessica.

On a baby-naming website, 3027 Jessicas were polled about their name. Turns out 61 percent actually recommend their name for other’s children while I was among the 31 percent who disagree. Of those same respondents, 52 percent like being named Jessica, 15 percent don’t, while 33 percent don’t care either way.

Finally, something that differentiates myself from my fellow Jessicas.

Oh, and you can keep the name.

Jessica Dugan is majoring in mass communication and journalism with an emphasis in print journalism.