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Is that Samantha, Sam, Sami, Sammie, or something entirely different?

How about Edward? Ed, Eddie, Ted, Teddy, Ward?

No, William, I won’t call you Squilliam, despite the SpongBob reference. Will, Bill, Willy, Billy, or anything like it will do. And Jake? No, “the Snake” is not an appropriate school nickname.

Does Dominic go by Dom, Nick, Nicky, or Domo? If Benjamin can be Benjie, I suppose Dom could be Domi.

Elizabeth is Ella, not Lizzy or Beth. Isabel is Izzy, and Christopher is Topher, not Chris.

How about Clayton and Carlton? Clay & Carl? Or not? Oh, wait, one of them goes by CJ.

How many Ashleys and Emilys can there be in one grade?

Then we get the creative spellings. I don’t even want to go there.

But after I master the name game, we’re good. I hope and plan that we’re ready for a good year.