"Hi Mary Ann Tai!"

Now how many times have you heard that? (How many times do you think I've heard it?)

I am one of those folks who is usually referred to by my full name... a frequent habit of friends and acquaintances since elementary school. It doesn't bother me at all, but I have no idea why people always tack on my last name at the end. Maybe it makes me more recognizable or something. The funny thing is, I rarely introduce myself with my full name; I just stop with "Mary Ann". And the FUNNIER thing is, people seem to have a very hard time learning my name without the "Tai". Here are a few examples of the slaughterings:

1. "Mary" - the most popular rendition, since it is officially my first name. Used by lunch ladies, substitute teachers, and people who know there is something after "Mary" but don't remember what it is.
2. "Mary Jane" - used by a youth orchestra conductor and my advanced chem lab partners in high school (the lab partners were calling me that on purpose though).
3. "Mary Beth" - a couple of random people throughout school and work life. (I have no idea where they get this from.)
4. "Mary Jo" - used by some folks from small towns.
5. "Mare" - used by a neighbor who liked to shorten all names down to one syllable.
6. "Ann-Mary" - this is a weird one. I don't know what my professor was thinking when he referred to me using this rendition in an e-mail because he calls me Mary Ann to my face!!
7. "May Ann" - used by the VA in Cleveland on all of my official documents there. Leave it to them to call me "May Tai". Sounds like an alcoholic beverage.
8. "Marian" - used by those who meet me when I have mumbled my name too quickly.

What I should really do is enter in my name on official documents as "Sistah T. Pitydafoo". :-D Thankfully, I am going to take care of this name mess as soon as I get married - I will adopt my spouse's last name and bump up the "Ann" so that my first name will officially be what I like to be called. (Chill out, it's not happening soon. I need to find the guy first - or he needs to ask - or something.) For those of you who like the "Tai", don't worry, that'll be my middle. C'mon people, I could never lose the "Tai". ;-)