The article on common names was really interesting. I’ve never wanted a common name but never thought about it from the author’s perspective. I love that my name is uncommon without being over the top unique. It’s not as uncommon as, say, Abra 😉 But when I meet other people with my name, they are more often than not African American or Hispanic, not Caucasian. An uber driver asked me once if I was Hispanic based on my name. My middle name, however, could not be more common (It’s two syllables and starts with an M- I bet you can guess what it is!). It literally goes with every female name. I wish my parents had chosen something else but it’s my paternal grandmother’s first name. They were originally going to name me Rhiannon because we are Welsh, but they decided it was unwise to name their baby girl after a witch! I’m kind of glad they changed their minds, people have a hard enough time spelling Vanessa.

I *love* my short, easy to pronounce, easy to spell first name. As a child I grew up with a foreign first name and went by an even more foreign nickname… I pity my teachers in a remote part of Canada where the whole school had only a few non-white students. When we moved countries, my parents suggested that I get my name legally changed (taking my former first name as a middle name, since I didn’t have one previously), and it’s still one of their best parenting decisions.