Dori Marlin, 39

Dori Marlin would like the world to know that, yes, “Dori Marlin” is her real, given name. “I was here long before the movie ‘Finding Nemo,’” she says with a laugh.

According to Jewish tradition, she says, it’s customary to give a child a name starting with the first letter of a deceased family member’s name. In Marlin's case, she’s named after her great-grandmother, Dora.

“So creative!” she says, still laughing. “They changed just one letter. Growing up, I hated the name. But now there’s the fish, Dory, and suddenly it’s cool. Maybe it’s not so bad. It just took me a while to grow into it and appreciate it.”