Just curious. My name is the same as that of a famous second-tier mobster. I was asked about it occasionally when I lived in Joisey, but never here in California.
I’ve had video store customers named Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, and Jeff Stryker, none of whom are the “real” people.
I had a relation of some kind (third cousin or something equally distant) who had the same name as me, and there is a memorial shield awarded to sportsmen at a local (to him) football club, but that’s about it.
My last name is not “famous” (though a prominent author titled a novel after my last name). It’s a rather unusual last name, especially in the USA. It’s more common in England (where a lot of my relatives reside). I’ve never met a person with my same last name (unless they’re related to me). I’ve gotten a few emails from others around the globe, though.
Way back when, I snatched up my last name as a domain name. (I use it as a family site, nothing spectacular.) I was approached about a year later by a guy in England who wanted to buy it—he needed it for his business. I refused. (Hey—you snooze, you lose! I like my domain name!) So he bought the .net and .org extensions of the domain name, but so often his customers get confused and send email to me instead (forgetting that I have the .com extension, not this guy’s business). I get strange, strange emails. Usually business related emails. People sending me “contracts” for business deals, strange attachments. Very odd.
I share the exact same name with a movie actress from the seventies whose most famous role was in a Neil Simon adaptation; only people over 30 have heard of her. (Obviously, it isn’t Audrey Levins. That’s a whole other story.)
I wasn’t named after her–my parents were in a drug-induced fog through most of the seventies so I doubt they’d even heard of her–but people always assume I’m a big fan of hers.
And as far as other people go, I got a credit card from James Bond once.
I also got a credit card once from a man whose last name was Dickensheets. I thought that was far more hilarious than any famous coincidence.
My last name is easy to guess. Every time I mention it, someone says “Oh. Are you related to the Senator from Wisconsin?” Or - “Related to Charlie? Har har!”
Unless it’s a complete idiot, who will ask, “Like Paul from the Beatles?”
I don’t, but my sister went to college with a George Harrison and an Elizabeth Taylor.
And I am hugely entertained by the fact that two anchors on WNBC in New York are named Vivian Li and Ann Sheridan. I’m hoping they’ll go whole-hog and hire Betty Grable to do the weather.