Zilpha Keatley Snyder: Hello. My name is Zilpha Keatley Snyder, and I have that long, funny name because I come from a family that seems to believe that kids should be named after someone. I mean you aren't given a name because it's a popular name or a nice-sounding name. You just have to be named after someone, so my two first names were after someone in the family, and I didn't like them at all. I rather liked my last name always, but then when I was older and was going to get married, I was going to lose my last name and keep the two strange first names that I had, so I decided I would drop my middle name and take Keatley as my middle name. That is, my maiden name is now my middle name, and so now I am Zilpha Keatley Snyder.