In the spring of my senior year in high school the yearbooks were distributed and students quickly began the tradition of swapping books and writing little remembrances to each other.

I remember one girl, who had been in various classes with me since about eighth grade, asking if she could sign my book. So I handed it to her and she scribbled away.

When I looked at what she had written, it said, “Dear Fred.”

I didn’t say anything. I just thought, “Wow. My name’s Frank. I see I’ve left quite a memorable impression on her.”

Otherwise I didn’t care. I’d never thought of asking her out and she probably would have said no anyway, so I just tucked the experience away in my brain as yet another high school memory.

Some people, mostly egomaniacs or future politicians, might have been upset about that. Name recognition is important for them.

People, though, get names wrong all the time, and some people, or things, have names that no one seems to be able to get right.

That brings us to a message I got from a city resident the other day.

Gary Gardner, who works in the main office of Belmont Beverage at Time Corners, was sort of lamenting and sort of snickering that in the 20 years he has been working there, people have repeatedly gotten the name of the shopping center wrong.

He noted that if you go to Mapquest.com and look up the address of the shopping center, which is at West Jefferson Boulevard and Covington and Getz roads, the place is listed as Times Corner instead of Time Corners.

Look at ads for businesses there, and as often as not, they’ll get the name wrong. They call it Times Corners, or Times Corner, or Time Corner.

It’s easy to remember the name of the shopping center if you understand its history.

Years and years ago there was a business on one corner that displayed a big clock. The insane intersection of several different roads created numerous corners. And that’s where the name came from.

One clock and several corners, Gardner says. Therefore, Time Corners.

Bring a new newscaster into town, though, and they’ll almost certainly get it wrong, at least at first, Gardner said.

In a way, it doesn’t matter. Nobody’s going to be unable to find the shopping center just because they got the name wrong. It’s not going to stop anyone from finding the liquor store or one of the all-you-can-eat Chinese or chicken or pizza buffets located there.

From time to time, it appears, everyone gets it wrong. A quick look a this newspaper’s archives reveals that, though we usually get it right, everything from service clubs to little league teams and businesses have been referred to as Times Corner or Times Corners or Time Corner.

There is a sign in front of the shopping area that shows the name, but one doesn’t tend to notice it. Drivers don’t have time to take their eyes off the road in the crazy tangle of intersections.

The original clock is long gone, though, so, in a way, the name is an anachronism.

Maybe the place should just be called Corners, but who would want to do that? It would take the fun out of seeing how often people get the name wrong.