Well, I'm going to agree with you wholeheartedly on the
Anne thing. I don't think anyone could have said it better than
Anne of Green Gables (one of my favorite book characters):
"Spell out A-n-n and it just looks dreadful. But
Anne with an 'E' is quite distinctive." [The quote may be slightly off, but you get the point].
Whether my opinion is forever tainted by
Anne Shirley's or not is still up in the air, but when I see
Ann it just looks, well, chopped off to me for some reason. Like an incomplete name.
Anne has much more flair. Call me crazy.