For years I thought that Doug McIlroy had a very odd name, until I watched some presentation on YouTube and first heard his name being pronounced – "ah, so that's an i and not a double L!"

Lol I recognise the name from the famous pearls book but always thought his name was your incorrect version.

It probably doesn't help much that both Lain and Lan are fairly famous fictional characters now (Serial Experiments Lain and al'Lan Mandragoran from Wheel of Time).

I think that Iain is the Scottish version of Ian? Is it unacceptable to choose the alternate spelling, Ian?

In an ironic twist, I then get called Lan.

On the plus side, this might help you with networking.

Your name is your own first and foremost. You can honor your parents in other ways.

Funny story, I was named "Steven" and yet I've been called Steve my whole life, at my preference.

Recently I went through the process of changing my name legally, because I'd fallen into a bad habit of writing "Steve" when asked for my name on some documents, but then remembering my "official" name was "Steven" on others.

Having multiple IDs with different names, especially after moving to a new country, was just too much of a pain - for example my official residence permit name didn't match my passport name, which caused some fun at airports.

The first thing gifted was life, and though that was not bestowed with consent, it's one thing I'd argue for retaining as long as possible. Everything else is fair game to discard in service of making that life a good one.

Eh, there's nothing magical about parental preferences. A loving parent would not want their child to live with a name that they didn't like.

Fortunately with names, there are no returns, but exchanges are accepted (with a low restocking fee) in perpetuity.