My mother couldn’t have known that the name she chose for me -- well before the dawn of Google -- would be one of my best online marketing tools. But it is.

All you have to do is type "ilise" into the Google search field and a full 8 of the 10 results on that all-important first page link back to something about me or one of my books. Someone people say that’s good self promotion, but I call it luck. And I have to give credit to Mom — and Uncle Irving (it’s a long story).

There was a recent Wall St. Journal article about the growing importance of having a unique name so that you can be easily found when someone Googles you. Apparently, parents are choosing their babies’ names based on how well they Google; adults are using middle names and adding initials to stand out and come up first in the search engine rankings.