So, my name obviously isn't "Mellowdee". That's my rapper name. That's right! When I was young, I used to joke that "Mellow D" would be my name if I grew up to become a rapper. (Not that "rapper" was ever actually one of my short-listed career goals. My original childhood career aspiration was to be Hot Lips Hoolahan and hang out with Hawkeye n' the boys at the 4-oh-double 7. It was only a few weeks ago that someone informed me that Hot Lips was a real hussie in the movie. I had only ever known the TV show as a child... and boy, they looked like they were having some good times over there with their crazy antics, festive martini parties, and jokey banter (that likely went well over my head) while they operated on those poor wounded solders. Oh, and how I loved Radar. He was my favourite.)
Anyhow, needless to say, I didn't grow up to replace Hot Lips, nor did I grow up to become a rapper; therefore, my name is not Mellowdee or Mellow D. It's true spelling is "Melodie", which still gets underlined as an error any time I type it on my Macbook.
Now, why spell Melody with an "ie" and not with the correctly-spelled "y" at the end? Well, y'see, my parents first heard of the name Melody when they were both young and were introduced to this snotty girl at summer camp. They didn't like the girl, but loved her name. Flash-forward some 10 to 15 years later, and they decided to bestow the same name upon their first born, but tweak it ever so slightly, so it wouldn't be the same as that summer camp bitch. 
So my name is Melodie... not Melody. 
But rarely do I ever get called Melodie. Most often, I'm called Mel. This means that a lot of people assume my name is Melanie. And for some reason, I can't stand that name. Nothing personal. I've known several Melanie's who were nice enough people... I've just never liked the name. Probably because it's not *my* name, and yet people often (accidentally) insist on calling me that, so now the name grates on me. 
I had the same teacher in grade 7 and 8, and she used to always call me Melanie. You'd think after two years she could get it right?
As an adult, depending on the situation, I'll sometimes shrug it off if people get it wrong. "Close enough," I figure. If it's a first-time introduction, I'll definitely correct them... but if someone who should know better calls me Melanie by mistake, (which happens more than you'd think!) I'll generally just let it go - even though I still cringe a little on the inside. "Melanie. Blegh."
At my last job, people who I worked closely with would sometimes call me Melanie by accident. I never bothered correcting them. I just didn't want to make them feel stupid. I knew that they knew my name was Melodie, so why point out that they slipped and got it wrong? I just don't get any enjoyment out of making people feel dumb.
Fortunately, like I was saying, most people simply stick to "Mel". Unless it's certain relatives, like my sister, my aunt, and sometimes my mom. In that case I get called "Moe". Yeah, like the Stooge. Sexy, huh?
Actually, Moe comes from way back when my sister was a wee toddler, and couldn't pronounce my name. She'd call me Moe... and somehow it stuck. I used to hate it, but in more recent years, I've gradually warmed up to it. It's not like everyone calls me Moe... so I let the few who do call me that get away with it. After all, I've been called worse...
And when I say I've been called worse, I do mean much worse. If you can believe it, for a couple years in high school my nickname was "Beaster".  
Yes.... Beaster.
I can't help but think of Bubba in Forrest Gump when he first introduces himself, "I'm Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me Bubba... Can you believe that? Just like one of 'em redneck boys!"
I felt the same way about Beaster. Metal heads. Bikers. Tough guys. Those people are known as Beaster... not a petite little girl like moi, who was just barely over 5 feet tall and not much more than 100 pounds soaking wet.
So, how do you reckon I would get such a brutish name like Beaster?!
Well, I'll save that story (and the stories behind my other nicknames) for my next post. :)