Nadia Hashimi: Hello, my name is Nadia Hashimi. In Dari, the language of Afghanistan, spoken by my family, my name would be pronounced Nadia Hashimi. I grew up with a name that I could never find on coffee mugs or other novelty items, and that was a bit frustrating to me at times when I was growing up. But legend also has it that my father wanted to name me Francesca, and I used to dream about a glowingly simple life with the nickname Frankie, which I thought sounded so cool.

But I've grown used to my name, and I actually can't imagine being named anything else, now. And somehow, I've turned into a person who loves the less common names, so I've named my children Luron, Dala, Cairis, and Saira, names that they will absolutely never, ever find printed on anything of any use, and which their teachers have wishing for name pronunciation guides as well.

I've also dedicated one of my books to each of my children, so it all works out in the end.