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I taught a Chinese girl once whose English teacher in Hong Kong had given her Susannah as her Western name; her brother got Stephen and was quite cool with it, but she never felt like a Susannah. When they arrived in South Africa they were staying with some of her father's employees, and one of them suggested Ashley as an alternative. She loved the sound and the look of it, and eagerly asked me what I thought. I didn't tell her! Instead, I said that if she felt comfortable with it, then she should certainly drop Susannah and go for it. She did, and lived happily ever after, to my knowledge at least. I did have to reassure her that it had nothing to do with, as she said, burnt things! She liked the idea of a stretch of land with pretty trees growing on it, so that ended happily.

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I haven't seen a young Ashley for a long time; can't say I miss them.