Amanda, Tom, Michael, more- What’s in a Name? You are.

Amanda was a little Manda-Panda and an Ama-Llama,

before she was Mandy with friends and Amanda for Momma,

long before she was any Mandy-candy with man drama,

two-facing her friends and bleeding the wrong kind of karma.

Tom was never a little Thomas or Tommy,

an adorable Tom-Tom with is Tom-Tummy,

who’ll always be Tom to his Dad and Mommy,

unlike those wish-washes Tom/Thomas and Michael.

Michael was an angel who became a tyrant,

went by Mike and held himself as a giant,

shows his sweet side for our compliance,

and is likely to rage if we’re ever defiant.

As a Mandy who was never an Amanda, I can say,

I’ve learned a lot, and still know so little, about names;

yet, in folks, I recognize what’s different and the same,

and knowingly used it whenever the notion came.

The funny thing about names:

They don’t define us any way,

we define them in what we do,

what we say, and convey.

You can make your name great.

-M.E.

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