This is the 8th story in our Dear Santa: Real Questions, Real Answers series where the questions are real, and so are the answers.

“If you’re really Santa Claus, what’s my name?”

I may already know it.

But at the North Pole, we have a very old rule:

A child’s name is not a trick Santa uses to prove who he is.

Your name belongs to you. It is one of the first gifts your family gave you, and one of the first gifts you may choose to give someone when you meet them.

A name is a little like the front door of a house. Even if a kind visitor knows who lives inside, he should still knock and wait to be welcomed.

So I may smile and say, “I would be honored if you told me.”

Then I can listen carefully to how you say it. I can learn what you like to be called and speak your name the way it belongs to you.

Because knowing the word people call you is not the same as knowing you.

That takes listening, patience, and time.

Perhaps the better test of Santa is not whether he can guess your name.

Perhaps it is whether he treats your name and the child carrying it with care.

Knowing your name might be magic. Waiting for you to share it is respect.