Florence

Florence. That's my name. I believe I was named after my father, Florencio. (I have to confirm that with my mom. Considering I will be 40 this year, I should have done it a long time ago, right?) One name. No second name. No Maria before it as is the custom in the Philippines; nor another living or dead relative's name after it.
Growing up I was not a fan of this name.  I did not like writing the letter F.  It was either too loopy for my unskilled young hand or I hated the fact that I had to lift up my pen twice to put horizontal lines across a perfectly nice vertical line. (I never liked penmanship in general. I got a C in it in first grade and that just shattered me.)
Then I was often called Flor and I was teased by kids referring to my name as "floor." My nick-name was no better: Olence. Mean kids teased me and called me "jolen" or "holen" meaning marbles. I hated it and the fact that I did not have the courage to stand up to them to say, "That is not my name!"
High school came and I was in a class with somebody nick-named Flo-flo. Shit. That was better than Flor. Why did I not think of that! But I guess you cannot pick your own nick-name. It picks you. High-school was tough for me and my subconscious mind  has opted to forget most of it. (That's me going on a tangent.) That's why I only kept a handful of friends from that part of my life. These few good friends from high-school has called me Olence, which I preferred over Flor.
College came and I became Flo (I guess from Florence Griffith Joyner). Then a theology teacher was conducting a class and mentioned the Holy Spirit, however she has a thick Visayan accent which tend to conjugate an extra syllable "ga-" to verbs. So instead of saying " Nag flow ang Holy Spirit..." she said "Nag ga-flow ang Holy Spirit." Ga-flo stuck to me.
When I became an American citizen, I was asked if I wanted to change my name. I thought for a second I would really change it to something like Josephine but then I said "No I will keep my name." 
Those that barely know me now call me Florence. Let them call me Florence. I reserve the right to correct them if I want  them to call me Flo. Today, the guy who cuts my hair introduced me to his wife and asked her, "Does she look like a Florence?" The wife answered, "No she looks like a Cloe." I said in jest, "Ok. I have answered to  many other names but don't call me Fran."
I have just recently loved my name for the history I have had with it and more so by the great possibility that my father named me after him.