at pains, be at

Also, take pains. Make a special effort or take extra trouble to do something. For example, Bob was at pains to make a good first impression and wore his best suit, or Mary took pains to make sure her speech would interest the audience. [First half of 1500s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Maura (2)	MAWR-ə	Irish, Scottish, English
Rikki	RIK-ee	English (Modern)
Athena	[ə'θi:nə]
Sassa	-	Swedish
Giovanni	jo-VAHN-nee	Italian
Valentina	vah-len-TEE-nah (Italian), vah-lyen-TEE-nah (Russian), vah-leen-TEE-nah (Russian)	Italian, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, Spanish, Ancient Roman