What's in a name?

Having taught the same bunch of students for the last 6 months or so, I am starting to get used to them. I can remember the faces of most of them, the personality of some of them and the names of a few. I have however, come to realise that a handful of my students are actually the Japanese equivilant of some familiar faces from back home. It is completely random and usually occurs to me when I am pacing the aisles looking at their work. I can assure you I have not picked some students to intentionally remind me of people back home. These students actually look like people I know!