Names are a funny thing. My name is a pain to have. No one ever pronounces it right. I remember being in grade school and dreading the first roll call. I could almost guarantee my name would be mispronounced (which never made sense to me because after all they were teachers and should have recognized a silent "e"). Inevitably, my name would be called as Allan. At which point I would want to make the silent "e" point but would keep quiet because I figured it wouldnt be a good beginning to a school year.

The all time worst pronounciation of my name came when I moved to New York. My boss at Customs told everyone that my name was-- here is attempt at phoentics--AL (like the name)-LAN (like the network)-EE (long E). Which made my soon to be friend Jason think I was perhaps Hawaiian. My boss had equally botched my last name.

Although, al-lan-ee was about the most ridiculous pronounciation ever, it never bothered me as much as when people called me Elaine. I hate that name. Seldom would I bother to correct people but when the dreaded Elaine was called I was quick to state my name was Alane, often going into the explanation "like you walk down a lane."

Some people have never gotten my name straight--say like certain father-in-laws-but at least they call me Alana which I can stomach. I always kinda liked my name because it wasnt prone to nicknames. Indeed, until I entered the working world I never had a nickname derived from my name. Then I became Alaner to one of my close friends and Laney to another.

When I told my brother Joe we had named Joseph, Joseph he said, "I always hated my name." So there is my ramble on the name thing...