# Anyone here have a famous name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237 "2003-03-10T05:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/1 "2003-03-10T05:37:46Z")
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. hrh ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/2 "2003-03-10T05:44:12Z")
Joseph Stalin… No Im not telling you my real name on a mssg board… ---
**Author:** ![expect\_the\_unexpecteb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@expect\_the\_unexpecteb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expect_the_unexpecteb)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/3 "2003-03-10T05:44:14Z")
My name is the same as a certain queen of England. Lizzy ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/4 "2003-03-10T05:48:17Z")
Well… I’ve got the second bit of the first man on the moon’s name. Not the first bit though. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/5 "2003-03-10T05:48:26Z")
Not yet 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/6 "2003-03-10T05:49:33Z")
I knew a John F. Kennedy. My last name is famous. (see username 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![Nurobath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e57/32.png) [@Nurobath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurobath)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/7 "2003-03-10T05:58:05Z")
My last name is the same as a company (not sure how well known it is) that makes binoculars and compasses (among other things). ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/8 "2003-03-10T06:00:52Z")
My last name is Potter. This is my second pregnancy since those damned books came out, too. No, we aren’t naming the baby Harry! (Ha ha ha.) ---
**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/9 "2003-03-10T06:46:28Z")
I have the same name as Miss November 1998 playboy ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/10 "2003-03-10T07:58:08Z")
Doing an SDMB search for my real last name turns up 13 threads, mostly having to do with two French companies that have the same name. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/11 "2003-03-10T10:50:12Z")
No. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/12 "2003-03-10T10:51:18Z")
I have very nearly the same name as a US comedian, and exactly the same name as a UK disc jockey. (Which one? Not telling … ) ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/13 "2003-03-10T10:58:36Z")
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. Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent there. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/14 "2003-03-10T12:02:42Z")
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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/15 "2003-03-10T12:08:14Z")
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?” ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/16 "2003-03-10T12:22:18Z")
I have the same name as an Icelandic soccer player. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/17 "2003-03-10T12:23:25Z")
Oh, and the same name as the bassist of a really cool band from Winnipeg. ---
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/18 "2003-03-10T14:14:19Z")
I have the same name as a seventies punk rock guitarist and several lawyers and doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/19 "2003-03-10T14:39:21Z")
I have the same last name as a somewhat well-known photographer. I’m distantly related to him, I believe. My first name is the same first name as David Bowie and David Hasselhoff! Can you guess it? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/20 "2003-03-10T14:56:48Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237.md?page=2)