# Friend/Acquaintances With Same Name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726 "2011-02-26T18:55:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clovernook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Clovernook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clovernook)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/1 "2011-02-26T18:55:51Z")
Do any of you know two people with the same names? I don’t mean you know one person with the same name as a celebrity but actually know two different people who share the same name? ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/2 "2011-02-26T19:01:23Z")
Yup. I have a friend and an ex-coworker, both Maureen Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/3 "2011-02-26T19:06:15Z")
I have a friend with the same first and last name as me. We are not related. He usually goes by Jake and I by Jacob, but sometimes our friends call both of us Jake. Our last name is very common. He is older by 2 years and most of our mutual friends knew him first, so sometimes they call me the Other Jake OurLastName. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/4 "2011-02-26T20:11:51Z")
The church that I go two (at least 600 attend weekly, so it’s not a small church) has (and has had for as long as I can remember) two very prominent members (I believe both have been on the church board, or are active in the church in some area, since forever) named Gerald Reimer. They’re often referred to by their middle initial (ie Gerald F. or Gerald P.), or, less frequently, but I do hear it from time to time, by their spousal relationship (ie “Gerald as in Gerald-and-Mavis”). Interestingly, I was looking at our church’s phone directory recently, and while they’re both in there under their first and middle initials, I noticed two other names that were the same in the directory as well, but they weren’t differentiated at all (no middle initials) - except for the fact that they, along with every other married person in the church, was listed with their wife’s name (ie John & Jane Smith). Perhaps because neither of those people from the second same-named group were as active in the church as the Geralds Reimer (I hadn’t heard of them before). Another example, my great-grandparents (parents of my maternal grandfather) both had the same name, Cecil (yes, a woman named Cecil). Her name wasn’t the same as his before they married, but it was after. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/5 "2011-02-26T20:15:42Z")
There’s another person who shares my first and last names living about 50 miles away, but we’ve never met. I don’t know his middle name. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/6 "2011-02-26T20:21:47Z")
I went to high school with a Brian A. Green and Brian D. Green, and that’s exactly how we referred to them, with their middle initials intact. I’ve known three Michelle Martins, but all at different times, without overlap. My dad’s name is almost as common as John Smith. He and the other three men with his name in town got each other’s mail all the time when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/7 "2011-02-26T21:01:45Z")
I know three different Mike Mitchells. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/8 "2011-02-26T23:14:31Z")
A married couple I know both share the name Kris/Chris. Come to think of it, I know two Kris/Chris couples… ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/9 "2011-02-26T23:23:46Z")
I used to work with two people with the same name, same last name, and same middle initial. One worked steady midnight shifts so we called them Carrie Midnight, and Tall Carrie. Their pay checks were never left in the cash box, but handed directly to them by the boss. I also worked with a woman who had the same name (common for my era first name, extremely unusual Eastern European last name.) as a girl I went to elementary school with. Turns out my co worker was the sister in law. Her husband had married a girl with the same name as his sister. Come to think of it, one of my cousins married a Susan, and his sister’s name is Susan as well. They all live in southern Ontario within 20 minutes of each other, and their other siblings so I don’t know how they differentiate each other. My cousin named Sue kept her maiden name when she married, too. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/10 "2011-02-26T23:36:40Z")
I work with two guys named Mike Morgan. They are both attorneys who work in the same branch of the court and out of the same office. This gets very confusing. Secretaries have learned to refer to them by their middle initials, which are thankfully different. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/11 "2011-02-27T00:11:03Z")
I dated another Kate once. He now goes by another name and pronoun, but at the time he preferred Katie, which I can’t stand for myself so that worked out well. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/12 "2011-02-27T00:28:38Z")
I went to school with a Chris Westbrooks and a Kris Westbrooks. Both guys, one white and one black. They were in the same grade but not friends. ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/13 "2011-02-27T01:14:22Z")
My mother and one of my coworkers have the same name - different spellings, though. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/14 "2011-02-27T01:35:14Z")
I know Christine W Hamilton, Christine R Hamilton, and Kristine Hamilton. Two are related to each other; Christine W is married to Christine R’s brother. Kristine is married to a friend from high school of Christine W’s. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/15 "2011-02-27T01:54:15Z")
I work with John Clark and John Clarke, and there’s someone on a different shift who’s name is the same as mine, but spelt slightly differently. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/16 "2011-02-27T02:55:16Z")
I have the same first and last name as my mother-in-law. Luckily I didn’t marry the other son, who is named for his dad. It’s confusing enough now… ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/17 "2011-02-27T03:17:10Z")
My friend Kaoru Saito married Kaoru Saito! Their names are identical except that his Kaoru name uses only one character to express it. The wife has that character plus another one. Their children’s names all have that character in it too, just to keep things neat and tidy! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/18 "2011-02-27T03:21:51Z")
Does it count that I, my father and my grandfather all have the same name? ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/19 "2011-02-27T03:47:30Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I work with John Clark and John Clarke, and there’s someone on a different shift who’s name is the same as mine, but spelt slightly differently. I have (had) two friends named John Clark. One an aquaintance, one a very good friend who died last November. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726/20 "2011-02-27T04:34:16Z")
I remembered that I also knew a Tonya Hawthorne and a Tanya Hawthorne. They had married a pair of brothers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friend-acquaintances-with-same-name/572726.md?page=2)