New name.

Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

This is an odd question for me, because Molly isn't my real name. I've always had a dislike for my real name. It's fairly common, short and unisex. When I was young I tried all kinds of ways to get a different name. I'd make long, fancy sounding variations of my name and insist they were my name, and my real name was just a nickname. I went through a phase where I introduced myself to my teachers at the beginning of the year as a completely different name than mine. It was awkward to have the teachers call me one thing, but everyone else still stuck to my plain old birth name.

Eventually I resigned myself to it, although I find it's hard for me to use my name to identify things. Aside from privacy issues, it is honestly easier for me to refer to myself by a name other than my own. It's easier to write about myself. I had thought at one point that when I turned 18 I'd legally change my name to something I liked better, but I just couldn't bring myself to hurt my family's feelings by "rejecting" my birth name. So, I've had it now for 30+ years. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

They say our names influence how we and others perceive us for our whole lives. What does that say about me?