# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/21 "2003-03-10T15:43:53Z")
my first name is Flemish short for Elisabeth, and is a South African Golf player’s last name. I live in an English speaking country, and it gets mistaken very often for names that sound the same. Or they go: …that’s an unusual name…are you sure that’s correct? As if I wouldn’t know my own name… It’s fun, though, i used to be surrounded by people with the same name (it’s very common where I come from), and where I live now, nobody’s ever heard if it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nangleator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e19adc/32.png) [@Nangleator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nangleator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/22 "2003-03-10T15:48:42Z")
I share first and last names with a minor politician from Lowell, MA. I’m hoping he becomes the President of the United States because… People can’t spell my name. Even when I say the letters to them, they always mispell. It would be cool if I shared a name everyone knew. Then, I’d just have to say, “Yes, like the President.” ---
**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/23 "2003-03-10T16:24:36Z")
My name is John Smiley. I’m not much of a sports guy, but I’ve been told that there is/was a major league pitcher of the same name. It comes up frequently in business conversations with those south of the border. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/24 "2003-03-10T16:30:29Z")
I have the same name as a semi-famous basketball player. Not a Michael Jordan, or a Larry Bird, thank heavens… ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/25 "2003-03-10T16:34:37Z")
I googled my name once - apparently there’s an author of sci-fi or fantasy books (can’t remember which and don’t care enough to look again) who writes under that name. Paul McCartney sang about me, with a little French tossed in… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@Harli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harli)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/26 "2003-03-10T16:36:05Z")
**Gyan9** , you stole my answer! Really though, last name generally leads to some great catholic religion jokes. First name, spelled uniquely to make me unique. Together though, probably only known among the drama students at the university I graduated from 2 years ago (“Oh! _You’re_ Harli Qwynn!” HQ not being my name), and hopefully somewhat with some of the community theatre people around my city. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/27 "2003-03-10T16:38:17Z")
My last name is the same as that of a fairly famous gay author; we’re not directly related, but we come from the same immigrant ancestor. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/28 "2003-03-10T16:59:45Z")
My father, after whom I am named, is pretty well known in the legal field. Big fish in a not-so-huge pond. It’s lead many lawyers to ask me if I’m related to [Dad’s name]. Also strange phone calls to my home (I’m listed, he’s not, and we reside in the same city), and, a couple of times, some security issues. Kind of a pain in the neck, basically. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/29 "2003-03-10T17:39:00Z")
TWO famous people have my name, and I used to get crank calls from kids sometimes, but not as often (maybe they are afraid of \*69?). My name is so common, that there were 7 people at my university with the same name…one of the idiots bounced a check and I couldn’t pay my tuition or buy anything using my checks. I called and got all the people with my name in one room. We agreed to start using our middle name, or initial on everything. The university took us up on the offer of registering with middle initials, cleared “our” names and we never had a problem again. BTW, I work with a lady named Joan Crawford. ---
**Author:** ![Thurgood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Thurgood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thurgood)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/30 "2003-03-10T21:26:56Z")
I share my name with one of the most gifted actors of our time. I won’t tell you what it is, but I will give you a clue - it rhymes with “Jon Reremy” ---
**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, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/31 "2003-03-10T21:45:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DMark \* > **I called and got all the people with my name in one room.** That must’ve been pretty surreal! ---
**Author:** ![WonTon\_Sean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WonTon\_Sean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonTon_Sean)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/32 "2003-03-10T21:50:30Z")
My name is Andrew Jackson \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* being my last name. ---
**Author:** ![\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7cd45c/32.png) [@\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Deep_F_ied)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/33 "2003-03-10T22:09:00Z")
I share a same last name with a once popular chain of hotels and a Chrslyer sedan. Can you guess? ---
**Author:** ![benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@benson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benson)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/34 "2003-03-10T22:22:43Z")
I went to high school with Will Smith and Steve Young. My cousin is Gillian Anderson. My last name is pretty uncommon so I’m pretty sure there’s no one else in the world with my name. Unless they are related to me, I think there are only about 10 other people with my last name. ---
**Author:** ![Convict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Convict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Convict)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/35 "2003-03-11T00:29:53Z")
I share my first and last name with a famous children’s book author. I also share my last name with an extremely famous comic (as seen in the newspaper) character. ---
**Author:** ![mozart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mozart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozart)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/36 "2003-03-11T00:49:19Z")
I share a last name with some dead guy from Austria, seems he played the piano a bit ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/37 "2003-03-11T02:14:18Z")
My last name is the same as a Hungarian revolutionary. However, as the name is basically the Hungarian version of Jones or Brown, it’s not like this is an uncommon thing. I also share the same full name as the lead singer of a garage/grunge/soul/R&B/punk band that was famous enough to get a mention in Entertainment Weekly, thusly freaking me out. If the band ever becomes famous, things will get interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/38 "2003-03-11T02:22:03Z")
I share a last name with a legendary hanging judge. 😉 I once met a woman named Robin Leach. ---
**Author:** ![bjohn13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@bjohn13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bjohn13)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/39 "2003-03-11T02:26:16Z")
There is a guy who goes to a local school who shares the exact same name as I…all the way through…spelled exactly the same. That is extremely odd given the wide variants more common ways to spell two of my three names. My last name is pretty univerasl, though not exactly common. There are a lot of my “kin” over in Germany and in the Ukraine, but not many here in the States unless one is to go to the Western Dakotas and Southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Also, oddly enough, he is the only person I have been able to discern through google and various other search engines who shares even the same first and last name with me. This really wierds me out. I live in a city of 150,000 in a country of neary a billion…and the only guys who shares my name lives about 8 blocks away. Famous? Well…there was a ND state legislator who served in the early '70’s who had my last name. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237/40 "2003-03-11T02:28:26Z")
Well, I’ll say this much about my first name… _“Oh, I’ve got a brand-new pair of roller-skates, You’ve got a brand-new key, Why don’t we just get together and try them on to see…”_ 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-a-famous-name/160237.md?page=3)