Correct when the wrong name is said

Dear Miss Manners: I have a name that is very similar to other names. Having spent my entire life being called by the wrong name, I do not take offense. I simply tell people my name. Sometimes in writing.

And yet it persists. I typically try to reintroduce myself, maybe more than once, but ... it feels super awkward to shout out, “That’s not my bloody name, already!!!”

Suggestions on how to politely fix this, both specifically and in general?

Gentle reader:

There is, unfortunately, no wholesale solution, as the next person who mistakes your name has no way of knowing about the 4,628 who offended before.

You will therefore have to resign yourself to correcting that person with one of the self-effacing approaches with which you are so familiar.

A person who makes the same mistake after multiple corrections can be handled more sternly.

Dear Miss Manners: If we are hosting a birthday party at our home for a niece or nephew, is there a polite way to suggest to the parent not to bring the biggest cake they can find?

Often times, we are left with a huge cake to fit into our fridge, which we actually don’t want once the party is over. I feel guilty for throwing it out.

Gentle reader: You you may rebox what’s left at the end of the party and hand it to your brother or sister on their way out the door.

Protests that they have no place to put it should be met with a knowing, “I completely understand. It’s just that if it stays here, it’s going to get thrown out, and perhaps Liam will want another piece.”

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Miss Manners team of Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, go to missmanners.com or write them c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.