Descended from a Southern family with a long history of double names (Annie Lou, Mary Catherine, Anne Heaton, etc.), I was destined to have a double name myself. When I was younger, it was the bane of my existence. I found my name quite long to spell when first learning to write, and the pre-teen embarrassment around having to explain that “It’s not just Mary, it’s Mary Patton” more times than I could ever count was mortifying. Nowadays, I’m grateful that I get to stand out. In a…