LIKE JESSICA, I̢۪VE BEEN PLAGUED ALL my life with a terribly common-sounding name. Indeed, I suspect something like one out of every three people I̢۪ve ever met in my life has the same name as me, at least homophonically.

I add this note because on another level, I̢۪ve also never met another person with the same first name as me.

The careful reader might have noticed already, but my name is missing a second “t,â€Â the reason for which I still don’t really know and never fully will. It’s something that has been lost to me, as I’ve received a variety of explanations from my parents in their recounting of my birth-lore.

In any case, despite my uncommon spelling of a relatively common name, I’ve normalized the spelling of my nickname, sticking with the traditional “Matt.â€Â Unfortunately, despite my attempt to make life easier for everybody else, this decision has been an endless source of discussion for those around me and of much grief for me, personally.

Indeed, just weeks ago — with our very own Jessica! — I heard the same old complaints and had to rehearse the same old argument. Many people seem to have a problem with the addition of the second “tâ€Â in “Mattâ€Â when my actual name is only “Mathew.â€Â

And so I tell them — if it’s considered acceptable to take liberties with names by excising half the letters, surely adding one back in is no big offense. If this doesn’t convince people, I pull out my list of common names with “deviantâ€Â abbreviations.

William becomes Bill and Robert becomes Bob. Even Richard still becomes Dick, and we know that̢۪s not at all en vogue.

Ultimately though, it̢۪s my name. Like Jessica, it is part of my identity. Like my name, I am both normal and abnormal.

So just let me do with it what I want.