Amelia Earhart, a sophomore at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a relative of the famous aviator, is accustomed to surprised expressions, corny jokes and questions about whether she likes to fly.
"Anytime I have to introduce myself to someone with my full name, the reaction is always, 'Wow, are you serious?' " Earhart said. "Everyone's pretty interested in it, and I'm glad about that. No one ever forgets my name."
To friends and family, she's just Amy. But to some strangers and fans of her namesake, the famous pilot who pioneered the skies in the 1930s, she's a celebrity. "It's not that close of a relation, actually," she explained. "We're third cousins. My grandfather was her cousin.
"I'm an only child, so the name kind of ends with me, and that's why my parents decided to name me after her. My father's side of the family is very interested in the whole history," Earhart said, adding that the family has a library of books, interview transcripts and mementos.
While she enjoys the reactions and attention it affords now, Earhart had to endure some teasing and awkward moments growing up.
"My teachers thought it was the coolest thing ever that they had Amelia Earhart in their class. They would say, 'Guess what we're learning about today, kids? Amelia Earhart!' " she said. "I got teased all the way through elementary school and junior high, and that's why using the name 'Amy' was so much easier."
As a college freshman at the University of Kansas, Earhart's first class was a 600-seat political science lecture. The professor began introducing himself, but then stopped.
"He said, 'Before I continue, who is Amelia Earhart?' I had to stand up in front of 600 people and explain my relation and family background. From that point on, everyone would say 'Aren't you that Amelia Earhart girl?' or I'd hear people sitting behind me saying 'Hey, that's Amelia Earhart,' " she said.
The odd and funny moments continue even today. "It's weird to see your name in old books, or to hear Barbara Walters say your name on TV," she said.
Earhart was born in California and moved to Kansas with her family at age 13. Ironically, her famous flying third cousin was born in Kansas and moved to California at age 13.
Growing up in Kansas, Amy Earhart was right in the middle of her family history. "They have a full week devoted to Amelia Earhart in Atchison, Kansas, where she was born," she said. "They asked me to come role-play during that week, and I did. I dressed up like her."
Amy Earhart decided to come west to Colorado to continue her college career and, after a semester at Colorado State University, transferred to CU-Boulder. Her father lives in Pagosa Springs, near Durango, so now she's only a five-hour drive from family.
Majoring in English and pre-education, she plans to teach. The CU-Boulder Office of Community Affairs will coordinate her appearance at a local elementary school as a reader next year during Read Across America day, March 2.
She's also making plans to get started on flying lessons and to write a book. "Within the next four or five years, I want to get my pilot's license - and research Amelia's experience and how she started out knowing nothing about aviation - and write a book that follows both of our experiences. Since we have the same name, I kind of feel like it's something I should do, and I want to.
"Once I start flying, people are either going to really want to fly with me, or they won't want to go with me at all," she joked.
She keeps up with the efforts of several organizations that remain devoted to finding the long lost aviator's plane, which vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island on July 2, 1937.
"It's a huge, expensive ordeal. I'm glad - I think that's really neat and I want to get involved with it somehow," Earhart said. "It's unreal that they'd care that much about it. You'd think after a while, they'd give up. But even right now, someone is thinking about it and searching for her, which I think is really cool."