My voicemail message at home repeats my number, but doesn't say my name (because if you called me? you should know that already). Once in a while I'll get a misdirected message. Presuming that they must have listened to my message, and must have been given an incorrect number (mine), I always call back to let them know that their message was left with someone other than their intended party. Some people are really nice and thank me for going out of my way to call them back. Others?

* Insist they have the right number (despite all evidence to the contrary).

* Deny any possibility they could have misdialed.

* Are angry I didn't call sooner, letting them know of their error.

Yeah. That last one is my favorite.

ETA, my pet peeve is that in the South, they presume that a middle name such as "Beth" or "Ann" or "Sue" is automatically part of your spoken name. So you are never presumed to be "Barbara;" you are "Barbara Sue." Can't be "Lisa;" gotta be "Lisa Ann." Drove me nuts. First day of school always sucked because someone would inevitably decide that they liked calling me by both names and they. Would. Never. Stop.

My name problem (a lot more when I was younger) was with people calling me Jennifer. People just have the most problems believing that my full name is Jenny, not Jennifer. After a while, if someone called me Jennifer, I just wouldn't answer them because they obviously weren't talking to me.

Trivia fact for Barbra Streisand fans, I was named after her song "Jenny Rebecca" on the My Name is Barbra album. I was going to be named Rebecca, after my Great Grandmothers but my Mom hated the sound of Becky Miller, my parents heard the song and the rest is history. She also dislikes Jen, which I don't mind. The strange thing is only one person calls me Jen. Well, I find it strange, maybe since Jenny isn't that long a name, people don't find the need to shorten it.

My name is Monica and my last name is Polish and sounds waaaaay too much like a certain infamous White House intern. Oh, the grief I took during that period! Even clients thought they were funny and called me by that name. The dark hair didn't help.

I also hated the fact that, as a kid, none of those little doo-dads with names on them ever had a "Monica." To this day, I still idly look through that stuff, and rarely find a Monica. Scarred for life, I guess!

Let's see...my first name has an extra letter than a "normal" American name...which one math teacher wouldn't pronounce because "I don't like hard 'h's'..." (shut up, mrs. dodge. and wash your hair). Another math teacher INSISTED on calling by the first syllable, leaving off the rest of the syllables for shits & giggles & laziness, and while it's a proper name, it wasn't my name. And when someone pronounces it correctly, I freak out. Middle name? Common French name (dad's mom was French-Canadian so I got part of her name) which people butcher or spell in a wide variety of ways.

Last name? Same as a famous rocker on MTV with his family, except spelled differently but it is truly pronounced how it is spelled, which no one believes. I also dated a guy with the same last name spelled differently than both my name or the rocker, which was mildly creepy.

Yea, my kids are going to be Bob & Jane Smith. Or perhaps "Smithe". Hee.

Speaking of similar names when dating, it's even worse for the gays. There was an epidemic of David's, Christopher's & Micheal's in DC when I lived there, and crap if I didn't remember that Chris H. was dating Christopher who lived with Dave who was dating Micheal who was living with David who just broke up with Micheal S. who hates David R. who works in the same building Christopher but not the same Christopher who lives with Dave & dates Charles. Thank god for Charles.

Ok, so my given name is Anna - not Ann, not annie. Anna. In fact, my name was Ann on my birth certificate, but somehow everyone called me Anna, although now, people are always dropping the last A, like it is so hard to remember. For years, it wasn't a popular name, so no one could accept it was mine. I'd say " Hi', I'm Anna" and they respond with "Ann?"
Also, finding the doodads with my name on was always a huge problem, although, since it is gaining popularity, I can find things -how excited was I to find a keychain at Disneyworld with my name on it spelled with the 2 n's, most, just have the one and no matter what you try to tell me, it is not the same.

I could occasionally find a little doo-dad with Karla on it which made me happy. My sister could never find one with her name, but I guess that's to be expected. Her name is Teckla.

I totally commiserate with those of you who are constantly getting shortened; the shortened version of my name causes people to assume me to be Korean. I get the most incredulous looks when someone meets me for the first time who's been given the shortened version of my name. I do have a membership card to the Asian American Association, and get junk mail in languages I don't recognize, but no matter how many people think it, I'm still not Korean.

Even so, do you know how few people are willing to say all 3 syllables of my name? About 6. In the world. I always use the whole thing, but it never fails, the moment I introduce myself, the person responds with "Hi <nickname>, how are you?". And people actually have rolled their eyes at me if I correct them. I often feel guilty because I want people to use my name. How messed up is that?

And to integrate the phone thing with the name thing - it's not as bad since the no-call list, but I still get calls pretty often asking for "Mrs. Moon". As I've never been married, I just tell those people there's nobody here by that name, and hang up.

As someone named Beth and not Elizabeth, I can relate. I still get stuff addressed to Elizabeth Wilson. I remember when I first got my driver's license - I had trouble convincing them that I was giving them my full name, damn it!

Once I actually had to say the words to someone "that is the name on my birth certificate" Why would anyone even lie about their name? Well, except for Apple Paltrow-Martin and Coco Cox-Arnette.

Aisling


Did you choose your screen name from Maeve Binchy's book "Light a Penny Candle"? I remember loving the name Aisling, then 3/4 of the way through the book finding out it was actually pronounced Ashleen.

My parents have the same last name and I've often had conversations like this.
Person: "What is your mothers maiden name"
Me: "Gibson"
Person: "No, no dear, the name your mother had before she was married"
Me: "Gibson"

Sometime really stuborn people would repeat that process a couple of times.

My mother got put in the special ed class (I'm not sure what they called it back then) on her first day of school for the opposite reason. Her full first name is Margaret, but she was called Peggy. She had always been called Peggy. She was listed on the school's roll as Margaret, though, so that's the name the teacher used when she called roll.

Teacher: Margaret?
No answer.
Teacher: Margaret?
No answer.
Teacher marches up to Mom's desk: Margaret, when I call your name, answer me!
Mom: My name's not Margaret. My name is Peggy.

So they put her in the special ed class because she was in first grade and didn't even know her name. My grandmother had to go to school the next day to straighten things out.

miri, You're not my mother-in-law, are you? That's exactly her problem.

I knew a woman named Crissy. That was her given name. She died last year and was 87 years old, so you can imagine how unique that name was back in 1916. The kicker? She was Jewish, and got pissed off if people assumed her name was Christine or Christianne or something like that. RIP Crissy.

Holy cow, M. Darcy, me too! Except it had nothing to do with Barbra when my mom heard it. "Jenny Rebecca" was originally from some Broadway musical in the 60s that tanked. My mom? Got it off a freaking diaper commerical in 1972. She still claims that she didn't know ANYONE named Jennifer and thought it was a nice old-fashioned name. Olivia Newton-John and Neil Diamond have also recorded it.

I have the opposite problem from you: I've always been Jennifer or Jen, but never Jenny (my mom hated it, and then there was this girl in 7th grade who used to torture me and her name was Jenny, so...). Especially at school people called me Jenny All.The.Time. There's one teacher from elementary school I run into occasionally, and she still calls me Jenny even though I'm 31 years old! Bugs
the crap outta me. No offense.

ETA: well, no, IMissEthan, doesn't make sense to me either; I guess "Jenny" made her think of "Jennifer" which she decided went well with Rebecca. And that, she spelled Rebekah. Hey, this is the woman who named my youngest sister after a character on "Ryan's Hope", ok? I don't expect logic.

I'm confused Jen. Your mom hated the name Jenny, yet named you after the song Jenny Rebecca? Does that make sense to anyone else?

Not really. Plural "s" is pronounced like "z" all the time, as in "zoos", "shoes", and "caribous". In fact, after any vowel, or any voiced consonant.

For whoever asked, "thou" is the subject form (like "I"), and "thee" is the object form (like "me").

I'm fortunate to have a really easy and common first name, Jason, that I never have problems with, save for the occasional person who wants to spell it with a "y" ("Jayson"). My last name, however, I have to spell out every time.

Wow, JenEx -- your mom didn't know of anyone named Jennifer? I am a 1971 baby myself, and I don't think I ever had less than 3 Jennifers in my classes.

Although, I have friends now who are convinced that the names Taylor and Mackenzie are so original; surely no other child in their kids' age group will have the same name! Right.

re: Aaron/Erin

I actually have dated two "Aaron"s in the course of my dating history. The first one had the same last initial as myself, so that was just even more confusing. The second time we worked together and it was more annoying than cute.

I once knew a guy named Aaron (not one of the two above) who demanded you pronounce his name A-Ron, with a long 'a'. Otherwise, he would not answer. At all. Sooo annoying.

Along with the "you-ins" annoyance found occasionally in the south, my absolute biggest pet peeve is the way some southerners pronounce "Wash." Wash the dishes. I washed the car. I know what you're thinking "how can you screw that up?" Exactly. Except for the nimrods who don't understand that there's no 'r' in the word and try to rhyme it with porche. "I'll worshe those dishes for you, no problem." Gah. It makes my ears bleed.

A guy I work with does that. AND he pronounces it "li-bary." So wrong.

I had a set of great-grand parents named Merle and Earl. (say it out loud)

I have a good friend whose parents are named Don and Dawn.

My husband has a cousin named "Jenny Rebecca" and she goes by the whole name, not just Jenny. It's odd.

When I named my daughter Rachel, it really wasn't that popular. Or so I thought. Until in 4th grade, out of the nine girls in her Girl Scout troop, three were named Rachel -- and two of the three were Rachel Elizabeth, so I couldn't even keep them separate that way! Sheesh. At least it has the benefit of being a "classic." Even though so many people want to spell it Rachael, except for the ones who misspell the misspelling as Racheal. Grr.

My son is David. That one's hard to mess up.

Well, its such a beautiful name that even if you hate it, you still love it :-) In my tap dancing class, besides me there are three Jennifers. And something major happened to all of us lately, I was on Jeopardy, another one is engaged, another one just got married and the fourth one is about to have a baby any day now. Its the year of the Jens.

One of my friends in college was named Jennie. You called her Jennifer once, and you never did it again, because she'd make sure you got it right. "IT'S JUST JENNIE!" One of my friends at my old (still feels funny to say that) job is named Kate. Not Katherine, but Kate. Her sister is Meg, short for nothing. They call themselves Just Kate and Just Meg, because people always ask "Short for Katherine? Short for Margaret?" "No, just Kate, just Meg."

I, too, dislike the assumed shortening. If I say you can shorten, then shorten. Otherwise, call me by the name I give. And my name is only two syllables - it's not going to break you.

Quick question: I know people post the TARCon photos on Ofoto & Snapfish - which is better & is it worth AND safe to download the software they offer?

When I meant my fiancé the first time I totally blew him off. Numerous reasons of course, including that his name was "Ricky" and I though any grown man introducing themselves with a nick name hadn't grown up (apologies to anyone else, there were other factors). Turns out MONTHS later I find out that his parents came over from Italy and his mom thought "Ricky" was the most beautiful name in the world. So its his given name (which is why I use what his cousins all write for his name: "Ricci"). What a judgmental little jerk I was!

Ofoto's software is safe, though not particularly user-friendly. I'm not sure if it's possible to upload pics to their site WITHOUT using their software. They send occasional emails (once every couple weeks or so) begging you to buy stuff from them, but otherwise no spam. I don't know about Snapfish.

When my mother was a school teacher back in the stone ages, she had a student whose legal name was Teddy Jack. Which is a cute name for a little boy, but a grown man? Not so much.

For some reason, that reminded me of the later [i]Anne of Green Gables[/b] books, when they called her "Mrs. Dr. Blythe." I still love those books.

I had a similar problem, but for different reasons. When I was little, everyone was an Ashley. In my elementary school class of 33, there were four of us. There were never any "Ashley" things left at the store.

Yep! I've always thought that my name was bo-ring, and hated that it was so common. I read that book for the first time when I was sixteen, and thought that it was a really pretty, unique, more interesting version.

Two names that seem to be getting popular are Sydney and Julia, which makes the Alias geek in me happy. I volunteer in a kindergarten class, so these kids were named before the show started, but there are three Julias, a Julianna, a Sydney and a Sydnie. It made me laugh the first time I saw the attendance sheet.

skagirl I use Photobucket--it's free, it's simple and they haven't bothered me once since I got the account. I don't know how well the bandwith limit will stand up to the traffic in TARcon photos, though, especially right after the party.

I haven't had any problems with my name, once I made it clear that I was not, and never would be, Barbie. My last name regularly gets mangled, though--it sounds like it's German, but ends in "en" not "on". And one director at a community theatre insisted on pronouncing the "jo" at the beginning "Yo", not "Jo". That ended when I got reviewed in one of his productions and the reviewer spelled my name as "Yo...", and I pitched a one-alarm hissy-fit all over the greenroom.

My first and last names are both French, and are constantly butchered both verbally and in writing. It's amazing how creative people can be in killing a perfectly respectable name. It would be much easier for me to count the number of times my name was pronounced/spelled correctly, than to count the number of times it's been bastardized.

Ok, I'll try Photobucket - it's some photos from a party that I need to circulate, Barbie, I mean, Rabrab.

Oh my. I was a camp counselor for a number of years in high school, and my kids were the age when everyone was named Ashley. I had a set of twins. Ashley, and Brie. Like the cheese. The Ashley was one of three Ashleys in the group. Talk about an organizational nightmare. Oh, And besides Brie (like the cheese), we also had a Brianne and a Brianna.

Mmm....brie....that goes with my favorite game, Things we don't name children. I can hear the conversation now, "This is my daughter Roquefort, we call her "Blue" for short; this is my son, Chevre d'Or, we call him "Billy," and this is my other son, Cheddar, who we call "Sharp White Aged" for short."

And we have to have a license for everything else...

I'm a Rebecca. I love the name, but my parents gave me the annoying nickname "Beccy" when I was little, assuming that the cc would set me apart from the million Beckys in the world. When I was 4 I decided the spelling would be changed to "Becky", however, because I found out that I couldn't buy barrettes and pencils and other such knicknacks with Beccy on them, only Becky.

So, fast forward several years to a college summer where I worked as a camp counselor. On our staff of 20 there were three Beckys. One went by Rebecca, another Becky, and my BFF Lisa coined me "Bex". As in the very abbreviated nickname Rebecca -> Becky -> Becks -> Bex. It has stuck, so in my professional carreer I use Rebecca, but all my friends and family say and write my name as Bex. I like it, at least it's different and easy to pronounce.

skagirl, if you do that be sure to teach them the little hand sign that the Walter E Smithe guys use in their commercials. They say, "It's Smith-with-an-E" and they do this little three fingered thing with their right hand over their heart to look like an E. It looks so much like a wanna-be gang sign (or maybe it even is), that it's hilarious. So teach them that. Unless it really is a gang sign. That would be bad.

I'm a Colleen, but I've been called Maureen, Pauline, Sherrine, you name it. And it's only recently that I have been able to find doodads with my name on it.

I have trouble with names, because I go by either Melissa or Mel, my best friend goes by Mal (Mallory), and another good friend also goes by Mel (Melody). It's extremely confusing when we're all together, because you might think the person speaking is looking at you, even if they're not.

My brother's name is Mathew. My mother despises people calling him Matt, because she says that if she wanted it to be Matt, she would have spelled it with two ts. My brother goes by Matt, but he'd never let Mom know. She actually chased one of his friends, while brandishing a hockey stick, for calling him Matt just to annoy her.

She also wouldn't give him the phone if someone called asking for Matt. He had one friend who called seven times asking for Matt, and each time my mom said, "Sorry, no one by that name lives here." It was quite a funny experience.

Before we named our son, we ran all our favorites through the Social Security Website so we could see how popular they were. Our requirements: pronounceable, not mockable, and unique. We then rejected any name that was in the top 100 in the last three years--Jacob, Evan, Joshua, etc, all were way too popular to suit me or my husband. We finally ended up with Ezra Owen [Last name], which although it is creeping up in popularity, it is still only the 402th most common of the boy names last year.

I had a roommate in college with whose parents were named Gale and Gayle. She didn't find it as funny as I did, though.

My name is NEVER pronouced right, but that's my mom's fault. It really looks like it should be pronounced as "Karen", not closer to "Corrine". As a freshman in college I had to call my mother and ask her how to pronounce my name--is it "Ker-RIN" or "Ker-WREN"? I still get teased about that one.

Oh Col! I relate to the doohickeys. It got so bad that I bought things which were close to my name & either changed them with marker or kept them as is, and in my mind they were correct.

I still have the one pair of barrettes I found at a store in Longgrove with my name a good 12, 13 years ago - the crafty lady said she did names she found in birth & death announcements, and I didn't have her elaborate which one mine came from.

It just occurred to me that for any TAR photos anyone might want to put up for public viewing, I do have an actual paid Webshots account (that I set up mostly for Dragon*Con photos last year) that has oodles of space. So it's available for any TARcon photos or suchlike.

I was on the staff of a summer camp that mostly served African-American kids...and during one session, there was a cabin of 8-year olds that had 3 Jasmines (Spelled Jasmine, Jasmyn, and Jasmin) as well as a Jazzlyn. And two were cousins who looked exactly alike from the back.

But that's not the best...the same summer, we had two identical twins working on staff named Robert and Robbie...

kt7byu - that website is cool. I have a perfectly sensible name which is currently ranked 370th (down from 64th). It amazes me there are more poor kids that have names that will lead future employers to assume that they were raised by illiterate parents - Emely, Makenzie, Lesly?

Edited because when you are complaining about spelling you really should spell everything correctly.

GRBecca, did Robert & Robbie have brothers Darryl, Darryl & Darryl? Hee.

That reminds me of that Nickelodeon show "Ed, Edd & Eddy".

Has anyone seen this site? Baby's Named A Bad, Bad Thing. Too funny, some of the stuff that people come up with.

I was a secretary for a hotel where every time I picked up the phone, I had to say "HotelName, WedsAddams at your service!" It got to the point where I was answering my home phone the same way.

When I was a secretary, I got so tired of people not looking me in the eye when they ask me to do something. It's my job to type that letter, people, you can look at me when you ask about it so I don't feel like an untouchable peasant.



As well you should! I used to be a pollster, and one of the reasons politicians focus so much on elderly issues is because young people never answer their surveys. Our interviewers had a hell of a time speaking to anyone under 50.



I got that too! My given name is Shannon Lee, which meant I spent all four years at UNC as a human adverb. I am also often called Sharon (understandable) or Janet (which makes absolutely no sense at all).

My name peeve is being addressed or referred to as "Mrs. Husbandfirstname Husbandlastname". I didn't cease to exist when I got married. My parents went to the trouble of coming up with a nice name for me, the least people can do is find out what it is!

Edited because gramer is gud.

Ohh, names.
The biggest hassle of my life.
My parents were "kind" enough to give me a rather unique (or more like, uncommon) name back in the day. They genuinely liked it, but failed to realize one small problem. It's a boy's name. I know about 3 other people who share my name, and they're all guys.
Whenever someone who doesn't know me (clerks, etc.) calls out my name aloud, they expect a guy to stand up, and are quite surprised to realize I'm a she, rather than a he.
The other major problem I have with my name, is that it's impossible for me to pronounce it in English and make it sound decent.
It's a hebrew name, which sounds quite nice in hebrew - Liran (sounds like Li-Run). When I try to say it in English, with my quirky American accent, it sounds totally absurd - like "Li-RAN".
Since I had even worse experiences while introducing myself to Germans in Germany, I ended up introducing myself as "Liri", which was my nickname growing up (only about 3 people use it to this day). It was just dreadful listening to my name being butchered by a German accent.

Not to mention the problems I have with my last name. There are 2 ways to spell it in hebrew, and we take the road less traveled - equivalent to it ending with an "AI" instead of "AY" (though they both sound the same - just different spelling). Furthermore, on our IDs it's missing a vaoul in the beginning, making it sound completely different. All this because of some idiot clerk who miss-spelled it a gazillion years ago when my dad got his ID. However, it's spelled correctly in our passports. This results in lots of explaining when presenting both English and hebrew IDs. They told us we have to officially file a motion to change our last names, but we really can't be bothered going through all that.
Stupid bureaucracy.

ETA: Spelling is my enemy. I swear.

Mama Tiger re: name issues. My name is Lara. Not Laura. Not Lora. Not Lourie. Not Lar-a (rhymes with Glare-a). I spend a LOT of time repronouncing my name for people and then get told I'm being snotty about it. HELLO????!!!! Its my name. Lar-a ....rhymes with TAR (as in The Amazing Race)-a. Why is it wrong for me to want people to pronounce it right. I guess I pronounce it like you do!!

I also sort of hate it when people who have seen "Dr. Zhivago" ask if I was named after the main character. I going to start responding with "why, yes. my parents named me after a woman who was sleeping with a married man. aren't you named after someone like that???". Gah...can't people just like a name?

And my b/f....his name is Billy. That's his legal name. With the 'y' on the end. Not William. Not Bill. Billy. (sorry....getting carried away with the 'not's'). But he doesn't seem to mind when mail is sent to Dr. Wm blahblah. Oh...and I'm the only one who gets to call him Billy. :-)

My brother and sis-in-law went out of their way to pick names that could NOT be shortened and were not the top 20. Result? Paul and Mark.

Catching up, as usual (I was out of town visiting family/attending reunions, then for work, and decided I couldn't fit my laptop as well as other stuff into a small backpack, which is all I could carry while using these lovely crutches):

Hildy (and sibs) - great work on the flamingo!

TheAnglican - congrats on being (?almost) done your dissertation.

JenEx, it's great to hear that things are falling into place so that you can get your little girl! In terms of Chinese food, my understanding (from what I've heard and eating at restaurants that serve actual Chinese food) is that what passes for Chinese food in North America (sweet and sour over-breaded chicken balls, anyone?) has very little resemblance to anything actually eaten in China, so hopefully you'll find something acceptable.

wrong numbers: I've received a number of messages on my answering machine along the lines of "Bob, this is Aunt Edna, we haven't heard from you in a long time and are worried about you. Please call us sometime." Of course, they never leave a number. Last week, there was a long, rambling message in Finn (I'm guessing, since there are lots of Finns in this area), again with no number. The most persistent, though, is one of the banks. At least once a month, I get a notice in the mail for [former tenant], and every month, I send it back with some version of 'stop sending these notices!' scrawled on the outside, and yet, they still don't get the hint. If it wasn't a crime, I'd open one and find a number to call.

pronouns: I think 'you guys' must be a Canadian thing too, not just a Michigan thing, it's in pretty common usage here.

names: My last name is rather uncommon (we're all descended from one man who changed his name in the late 1700s), and people constantly mispronounce it, or add extra letters, or try to Anglicize it, despite the fact that it's pronounced Exactly.As.It.Is.Spelt. It's not that hard, people - sound it out, like your 1st grade teacher said.

Not to mention, "The Adventures of Pete and Pete."



I actually kind of like it when people do that to me.

See, my name is Rickie. And as my last post on the subject was pages and pages ago (even though it was only this morning,) I'll reiterate the fact that it is neither a boy's name nor is it short for anything. I can't tell you how many people misspell it (Ricky, Ricki, Rickee, Rikki, Riki -- I've even gotten mail addressed to Ruckie, and once, Ziackie) or assume that it's a nickname for something else. Interestingly enough, when I ask people what on earth they could possibly think it's short for, they have to think about it a second and then tell me that they can't think of anything. Except that it can be short for something, and that's Erica/Erika, which is what my Mom almost named me before deciding to go for broke and give me the boy's name. (My stupid brother got off easy. He's Robert. Lucky kid.) And yes, I do get many many people thinking I'm a boy. I was once assigned to a boy's bunk in summer camp. After I turned 18, the US Government started sending me mail because I hadn't registered for the draft. When I was in college, I took a stack of official mail from the school that was addressed to "Mr." and threw it on a table in the mailroom, asking (loudly,) "Who do I have to fuck around here to prove that I AM FEMALE?" Well, that solved that problem. So yes, I do kind of get a kick when people call me with my middle name, which is Beth, therefore making Rickie Beth. It's cute and fun as long as people don't say it in a sing-song voice, which is annoying because I am in fact a grown woman, and not a little girl.

I seem to be the opposite of a lot of people in that I hate it when people call me Douglas. Only my Mom called me that when I was in trouble.

I'm amazed the number of people who misspell my name. Who puts 2 s in Douglas? Douglass. It just looks so wrong, but I get it all the damn time.

Well, Frederick Douglass for one. And since that was the name of my high school, I always think "Douglas" is the spelling that looks odd. Heh.

Well, let's hope so, M. Darcy. I could use a year.

My FIL is named Jimmy. Not James or Jim, Jimmy. No middle name, which is unusual since he was born in the South as well. I have to admit, when we sent out our wedding invitations, I was kind of embarrassed because I was worried people would assume I didn't know any better than to use nicknames on a formal invitation. I'm over it now. And my MIL has one of those made-up Southern names where the parents just smush together some syllables they think sound good. She goes by Nora, fortunately.

This naming talk has me paranoid. I'm terrified of naming my daughter something that either she will hate, or it will be really popular in five years, or it will be really esoteric and no one will ever get it right. Sigh. Every name I decide I like gets popular right after I decide I like it; I always liked Emily and Brianna and Hannah and those are all on the top ten now. I also like Grace and although it's not hugely popular, it does seem to be terribly common in the Chinese adoption community. So last year I randomly decided I liked Isobel, and what hit the top 20? Isabella. Sigh.

My given name is Genevieve, and not only can people not pronounce it ("Geneva? Gen-i-vee-vee?"), they usually see the G and that it's a longer name, and leap right to "Guinevere! Like in King Arthur, right?" I used to go by Jenny, and then got sick of being mistaken for a Jennifer (apologies to all you out there, but I was born in the midst of the Jennifer boom, so I got called that a *lot*), so my friend dubbed me "Geni," pronounced the same way, and I still mostly go by that. Except I had a co-worker who would routinely write me emails addressed to "Gene." That was...odd.

My sister is a Rebecca, and has gone with Becs as her nickname, which I think is cute.

And for all the phone people being badgered by collection agencies...uh, sorry. They're probably looking for me. Husband and I are one of those sad folk, hiding from the debt agencies. As soon as I figure out a way to get his numerous defaulted student loans paid off while earning a negligable income, I can stop cringing every time the damn phone rings. It was sort of nice to learn over on Fametracker that Viggo Mortensen and I both share a phobia about phones.