Diana Renn: Hi, my name is Diana Renn. I'm not named after anyone. My mother just liked the name. My last name is German. Renn was probably shortened from the name Renner when some of my ancestors immigrated. Something interesting about my name is it has what I call a slippery N. I spell my first name with one N, D-I-A-N-A and my last name with two Ns, R-E-N-N. But sometimes people want to put one of those Ns from my last name into my first name and take it out of my last name. That would make my first name D-I-A-N-N-A and my last name R-E-N. Well, it sounds the same, but it can be confusing when I need to call customer service for something or confirm my registration for events, and suddenly people can't find me, and it's because my name was misspelled.

People also like to put an E on the end of my first name or they spell my last name W-R-E-N like the bird, or they spell it R-E-E-N, which feels like a completely different name. I remember ordering customized pencils in elementary school. I opened the special case they came in and looked at those gleaming navy blue pencils inside. I read the shiny gold letters that spelled Diane Reen, and I burst into tears because that was not my name, and I had really wanted those personalized pencils. So I've gotten into the habit of spelling my name any time people ask for it. It's automatic now. What's your name? Diana, D-I-A-N-A, Renn, R-E-N-N. Probably, some people just think I enjoy spelling and do you know what? That's actually true. I'm a really good speller.