agree about Melissa and Melinda...
in reply to a message by sedora
Though I've only ever met one girl who was ever called Mel, and her name was Melanie. This Melissa's family pronounced her name Me-LEE-Sa, who knows why? She always pronounced it Melissa, the regular way, probably because she knew it was a losing battle to insist that people call her by her family's pronunciation. I think Melinda might have been called Mindy occasionally, but not in general.