"A dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life? In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow his family tradition going back generations, and name the child Gordon. But on the journey there, Cora wonders...

When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.

When her embarrassing middle name is revealed at school, mad scientist Franny K. Stein experiments with time in order to return to the past and give herself a more dignified name.

Ten-year-old Abbie, bullied at school for being small, wants to get a big black dog, but two months of living with a little Yorkshire terrier changes his mind about a number of things.

As a refugee from Sudan to the United States, Sangoel is frustrated that no one can pronounce his name correctly until he finds a clever way to solve the problem.