Name spelling

I was cursed with a first name that people constantly misspell - Shawn. That's why I sign my posts as ShawnNotSean. As someone who grew up having to correct people on how my name was spelled, I have always gone out of my way to make sure that I spell other people's name correctly. I also made sure to give my children names that don't really have common spelling variations. But back to Shawn - the spelling of my name was actually the most popular spelling variation in the US back in the 70s when my parents (probably mostly my mom) came up with the name, not the more traditional Sean. Maybe back in the 70s people were trying to spell phonetically, I don't know. Now to top it off, sometimes people even think I'm female based on the spelling of my name if they have never met me. Talk about identity crisis! It seems that at some point, people started naming their daughters Shawna, and some have even dropping the a altogether for their daughter. I don't know if this is really PC, but I really don't like having a name that is now unisex. So the next time you need to spell someone's name or make an assumption about the gender of someone based on their name, think twice.