I can't remember what I was going to be if I were a boy. But Mom wanted Michelle Leann (or maybe it was Meredith).

Mom was almost Karen but another girl was born just before Mom and was named Karen so grandma changed it, then Karen's family moved away.

Mom insisted on naming my brother, he went 3 days without a name (I think it took 2 days to settle on my nephew's name, before they changed it I mean). There was disagreement about his first name because it was the same as: 1 sister's dog, the other sister's ex boyfriend, and 1 of dad's brother's then girlfriend. But my uncle and his girlfriend broke up, the dog died, and the only reason anyone mentions them is for this story.

My dad was a JR and I would have been the III, if I had been a boy.

I always thought that if I ever had a baby girl, I'd love to name her Alicia Marie, after my two grandmothers (Alice and Mary, but better known as Mae).

Interview was OK -- I think my voice sounded shaky for some of it, and I was a little rambley. Seemed OK more or less. I think I probably did medium.

Jen, did you say this was your first phone interview? I remember being super nervous for my first phone interview, but once I had that first one out of the way and knew more or less what to expect, subsequent ones have been easier. Anyway, fingers crossed for you!

My parents considered naming me Greta, which horrified me when I found this out as a kid, but now I think it would be pretty cool.

I've been married for 115.88 Kardashians. Impressive.

Ha! 5.89 for me.

Yeah, it was my first, Kate, and thanks -- good to hear they get easier.

I've never conducted one either, so I have no idea what it's like from the other side, but I've been on one to many muted conference calls with people next to me to be entirely comfortable with their being able to look at each other about me without my being there!

Kardashian's as a unit of marriage time, ah-ha-ha-ha! I love that.

I'll keep an eye out, Jilli. If you want to give me your phone number, I will happily text you pictures of anything I find that I think might strike your fancy.

Once I asked her whether I could call her Polly. Before her answer was out, both of my parents chimed in unison, "No, you may not

In my family, she would have be Miss Polly or Aunt Polly, although for some reason we always called one couple by their first names.

I would have been William. I don't know of any debate about my name, because my mom wanted to carry on the Virginia from her grandmother, but my mother wanted to name my sister Amanda Lee and call her Mandy. Considering what would have happened after Barry Manilow came along, probably Elizabeth was a good compromise. My mother named her for one of her best friends; my father named her for the queen.

And then there's Tim's uncle Jerome, who is 70-something and has been called Pete for about 65 years. And his middle name isn't Peter, either. It was just one of those things. One of those *inexplicable* things, since Pete is not really an obvious nickname for Jerome.

I have a cousin named Fintan, and that's what the family calls him. He is known as Mike to the rest of the world.

My aunt was married to a guy named Expedite, who went by either X. or Howard (his last name.) I was in my 20s before I knew Howard wasn't his first name.

I'd have been Angus George.

Every Angus I've known has been awesome, so I am favourably predisposed to that name.

My friend agonized over the name of her 4 year old daughter. She wanted something not too unusual, but fairly unique for her cohort. She named her Adele, just before the singer started getting known. She's irrationally annoyed by her rise to fame.

In my family, she would have be Miss Polly or Aunt Polly, although for some reason we always called one couple by their first names.

See now, that's interesting, because we're more or less the same age cohort. Is it a southern thing? I noticed in Baltimore that some of my younger employees called me "Miss Jen," even after I said they were free to call me Jen. Is Baltimore southernish? Man, this kind of stuff is endlessly fascinating.

We did have two sets of courtesy aunts and unlces, but most adults were Mr., Mrs., or Miss. Definitely that way in Germany, but also when we came back with people my older sisters knew before my arrival on the scene. Hell, most of my college friends' parents are Mr. and Mrs. or Title and LN to me still.

I know I have rarely called anyone Mr. or Mrs./Miss FirstName, and definitely not until pretty recently. That one was new to me. And still feels funny when someone first does it to me.

Baltimore is southernish and I believe it is totally a southernism.