Bobbie Kalman: Hello, my name is Bobbie Kalman. The name Kalman is a first name in Hungary, but it was our last name. I love the name, because a famous Hungarian king had this name. My father told me about King Kalman, who lived almost a thousand years ago. The king was called Kalman the book lover. Dad said that I was Bobbie Kalman the book lover, because I loved books, and spent most of my time reading.

My legal name is Marie Valerie-Kalman. I was named after the daughter of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, or Queen Sisi, who I thought was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. When Hungary and Austria were an empire, Emperor France Joseph and his wife Sisi were crowned King and Queen of Hungary. The people of Hungary fell in love with queen Sisi because she loved them. She learned to speak Hungarian fluently. In fact, Sisi's fourth and favorite child, Marie Valerie, was born in Hungary.

She was known as the Hungarian child. No one in my family has ever called me Marie or Marika, however, because there were already many other Marikas in the family. So I became known as Bobbie. Bobbie is my nickname.