DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I have had some bad luck and some s----y relationships. The guy I’m with now has only had a couple of serious girlfriends, and I think it sometimes bothers him that I have more of a past than he has.

He is probably the nicest guy I have ever known, and I don’t want to lose him over the past, but I can’t undo what happened before I even knew him. How do I convince him he is the one, the only one I want now? --- BEEN AROUND MORE THAN HIM

DEAR BEEN AROUND MORE THAN HIM: You’re right about not being able to change the past, but you can hopefully convince him that what you’ve learned from your previous relationships is that even when you find someone special, you won’t find someone perfect. That doesn’t exist, and if your past is preventing him from seeing a future for the two of you as a couple, then unfortunately, he may not be the one for you.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Our daughter is pregnant for the second time and she and her husband are starting to consider names. Their son is named Bryce, which we thought, while it’s a nice name, could go for either a boy or a girl and cause confusion in the future.

This time our daughter is carrying twin boys and they are seriously thinking of naming them Kaiyden and Jaiyden.

Now I know our generation went with some far-out names, but I don’t get the thinking behind going with potentially confusing and hard to spell names. Are my wife and I just losing touch with the times? --- CONFUSED GRANDS

DEAR CONFUSED GRANDS: Names go in and out of popularity. For instance, my name was a hot one in the late 50s and early 60s, and has been falling out of vogue ever since.

Your daughter and son-in-law are just continuing the tradition of being attracted to trendy names. If the names they pick are popular enough, their kids will run across others with the same names as they move through school and life. As unusual as the names may seem to you now, it’s a good bet your grandsons won’t be the only kids wearing them.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Several of my girlfriend’s friends have recently gotten engaged, and they all were those big, totally planned, very public deals.

I’m ready to ask her too, but I don’t want a public spectacle. I think she is expecting one though. Do I ask her how to ask her, or just go with the private proposal at our favorite park, with just the two of us, like I’ve long thought about whenever I thought of asking her? --- PRIVATE KIND OF GUY

DEAR PRIVATE KIND OF GUY: Just because her friends had the flashy, public affairs doesn’t mean that’s what she wants.

By now, if you’re at the stage of even contemplating asking her to marry you, hopefully you know your girlfriend well enough to be able to gauge what kind of proposal most matches her personality, and go with that ─ whether it’s big and public, or as you always envision it, you two away from it all.