Mordicai Gerstein: Hello, my name is Mordicai Gerstein. I spell my name M-O-R-D-I-C-A-I instead of D-E-C-A-I like most Mordecais spell it, though there aren't too many Mordecais. When I got to kindergarten, my teacher asked me what my name was and I said, "Mordicai," and she said, "Well, we'll call you Mordi." M-O-R-D-I. And that's what I was called for the next 40 years until I started signing my books Mordicai Gerstein and I decided I liked Mordicai much better than Mordi. So that's the story of my name.