Almost everyday, I am asked if M’Liss is my real name, how did I get the name, is it short for Melissa, how is pronounced, why did my mom pick that name?  And even my grandmother could not spell it or pronounce it right!

The story goes like this, my dad was a life guard in Pacific Beach, Calif and my mom hung out at the beach with him as young newly weds.  San Diego’s beach community was small back then and everyone knew one another.  A nice young woman had the name M’Liss and because my mom liked it, that’s what she named me.  Now, mind you, people didn’t name their kids unusual names then.  My classmates were Debbie, Kathy, Susan, etc, and not wanting to stand out, it didn’t help when a substitute teacher tried to call out my name for roll call and stammered over it.

But now, all these years later, its wonderful to have the unique name of M’Liss.