My grandfather (2nd generation polish immigrant) used to hate having to correct people on how to speak and pronounce our family name and decided to change it to something more “Americanized”. It took me a while to understand why until I spent 40 years having to correct people on the spelling and pronunciation of the Americanized version.

Then, two of my kids turned out to be genderqueer and they both chose new first names for themselves. It was them that I realized that choosing your own name is a powerful thing and you should be proud of forming your own identity. So, ignore everyone who questions choosing your own name. It is a good thing!

As for Cliff, I like it! It sounds good and it’s a name you hear a lot. Stick with it if you also like it!

I do remember this one. We called it “Cat’s Cradle”. I don’t think I ever played it, though childhood was 10,000 years ago so I may have just forgotten.