> And over the phone it's even worse. I'll answer to Olivia, Alicia, Alisha, Aretha, or pretty much anything that starts with "A".

Heh. I don't have the world's most uncommon name - heck, neither of the names I'm commonly known by are too difficult - but you'd be surprised how much trouble I get.

My real name is Brandon. I get Brenden, Brendan, Branden, Brendon, Brian, Bryan, Byron, Brent, Brett, and the occasional Brenda. I'm taking a class this term with a professor I've had twice before, and she *still* read my name off the attendance sheet as Brian. :-P

As Darien, I am often instead called Darren, Darwin, and, oddly enough, David. Even more interesting than that - I worked as an Orientation Leader this year, assisting the incoming freshmen in moving in and getting settled and such. One of my fellow Orientation Leaders - a lovely girl I met there - still to this day calls me Darren (my name tag identified me as "Darien"). And, now and again, my fiancée will slip and call me Darien. That's kind of unnerving. ;-}