WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Lately, I've come across several names that have tickled my funny bone.

At the legal clinic, clients call in with all sorts of strange issues and legal quandaries. Their problems are sometimes humorously enhanced by their names. Take these two encounters, for example:
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RING RING. RING RING.
Me: Good morning, Legal Clinic.
Caller: Ah, yes hello. I'm having an issue with my landlord.
Me: Ok sir, what is your name?
Caller: Charles.
Me: And your last name?
Caller: Dickens.
Me: Pardon?
Caller: Charles Dickens.
Me: *slight giggle and stutter* Uh, oh, ok.
Caller: YEAH. And let me tell you chile' my life is like a tale of two cities!

We both erupt into laughter. He then proceeds to tell me his landlord is trying to evict him. SIGH.


RING RING. RING RING.
Me: Good afternoon, Legal Clinic.
Caller: Yes, hello this is Curtis ______, calling for G.
Me: Hi, Curtis. I hope you received the will that I drafted for you.
Caller: Yes, I did. I was hoping you could add something.
Me: Sure.
Caller: I'd like to devise my entire estate into equal shares for my three sisters.
Me: Ok. Can I get their names?
Caller: Blossom, Bambi, and Boo-Boo.
Me: Pause. How do you spell Boo-Boo?
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It took me a long time to accept and like my name. I hated when people mispronounced it, and being the serious and paranoid child that I was, couldn't take any form of teasing lightly. Guinea, Jenny, Jeanie, Gina, Janine (yeah WTF?). Who knew four simple letters could cause so much trouble and embarrassment. On top of that, I had a very foreign last name to pretty much anybody I encountered that was not Malayalee.

Despite my dislike for my name growing up, I always corrected people when they made a mistake. In college, I even snapped at a professor ("There is no 'A' in my name.") for mangling it into what sounded like "Genina."

I also tend to tell people whose names get mispronounced to never back down and always correct it. No matter how you feel about it, it's the most powerful way you can show self-respect. It's funny how a four-letter word can teach you that.