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I was at school with three young Alices, all cousins! One went by Alice; when one of the others discovered that she was not alone, she gave up being Alice and called herself Arline instead; and the third one used her middle name which, remarkably, is Marsephine. (In fact, they all had the same mn, no doubt for sound family reasons.)

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It suited them just fine, I thought. There were more Alison people than Alice people around, back then, but it didn't matter at all.

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I've only met two adult Alices. One was married to my mother's cousin, and seemed pleasant but I hardly ever saw them. The other was a receptionist/telephonist at a foreign embassy - a South African of Lebanese descent - and therefore had to be charming, and was.

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I'd use Alice for a child without hesitation. In the absence of a suitable child, I used it for a cat with great success; she was known informally as Alice the Alley-Cat and was a very pretty animal.