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Naturally, I love it. :) I think it's totally adorable, and I love the nature reference. There are a lot of sugar maples here, so it makes me think of them in the fall--the prettiest trees of all!

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I think it could get confused with Mabel, but it's not hard to avoid. "Maple, like the tree." People think my name is Shawna or Sharon or Janet half the time. Meh.

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I'm normally a big stickler for full names, but just Kate does appeal to me. It has strength and there are no frills. I think people will often ask if it's a nickname, but that never killed anyone. I suppose Princess Kate could make it go up in popularity, but I highly doubt it would be all that affected. Katherine "Kate" has been there done that, and I don't think it's going to have a big resurgence anytime soon. And like you said, it's mostly a nickname so it's hard to say how popular it ever would be, too.

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I can think of three Kate/Cates I know off the top of my head, but I'm sure I've known several more. One is a Kathleen, one is a Caitlyn, and one I'm pretty sure is just Kate. Most are probably Katherines.