# Have you ever had experience(s) dealing with someone who had the same name as you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406 "2025-07-27T23:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/101 "2025-07-31T19:09:59Z")
I wonder if there’s more than 1 Yngwie Malmsteen ( sp) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/102 "2025-07-31T19:29:33Z")
What a coincidence. Just this morning a friend of mine named “Vandy” issued a library card to someone named “Vandy”. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/103 "2025-07-31T22:16:41Z")
> [@ThisOneGuy](#): > > My sister once did a google search of her name and found an arrest record of a black woman in Cleveland. Searching Cleveland arrest records found many others with the same last name, all rather dark skinned based on the photo My brother was detained at the border 30 years, coming into the USA, because someone with the same name was an American criminal on the FBI wanted list. Took them about an hour to notice that he wasn’t black. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/104 "2025-07-31T22:39:51Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > My brother was detained at the border 30 years, coming into the USA I hope there’s a missing “ago” in that story. 😬 ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/105 "2025-09-09T23:03:03Z")
I sort of had a situation today. My wife was at work. I was working from home. The phone number the doctor has is for the phone she carries with her. Today my doctor called and told her that I was going to be admitted to the hospital, which was scary. The doctor said to call another medical place to find out what happened. A mistake? Someone else had my medical information or ??? It turns out the person that was going to be admitted had the same first name (fairly common), middle initial, and same last name (different spelling). They had put me in instead of the other person. And it turns out the person being admitted was the brother of the person who my wife was talking to on the phone. Another coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/106 "2025-09-10T00:04:43Z")
My first and last name are common, but I think I’m the only person in the US with my first, middle, and last name. When I was in college, another person at my summer job had the same name. We have different middle names, but they start with the same letter, so we couldn’t even use First Name + Initial to tell us apart. When I went to get a library card in my current town, I found out that someone else with my name already had a library card. Later I got a nice card from someone who had met the other me at a party. I was the only one in the phone book (remember those?), so I’m pretty sure that’s where they got my address. I also got phone calls from people who wanted to know if I did housecleaning. That was funny. I found out the other me moved out of town when I got a tax bill for her car. I don’t know where she is now. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/107 "2025-09-10T15:56:41Z")
I got more information on my story…. Doctor called wife. “Is your husband okay”. Wife (really worried)… why? Doctor. He was scheduled to go to the hospital yesterday, but didn’t show up. Wife (Sees there is some sort of mistake, but curious).There is a mistake, what’s going on? Doctor: they sent name, date of birth, SSN, etc. Wife (worried about my personal information may be out there) What? Doctor: Call medical center. Wife to Medical center: What’s going on? Medical Center person: somebody probably entered wrong information, and they went in and got things straightened out. Wife (still concerned): how do I know? Medical Center person: Normally, I couldn’t give out information, because of HIPPA. But, the person happens to be my brother. I can give information about family member, but not a patient. When his information was entered they picked the wrong person. He has same first name, middle initial, and same last name (with a different spelling) as me. They straightened it out at hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/108 "2025-09-10T15:59:18Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Medical Center person: Normally, I couldn’t give out information, because of HIPPA. But, the person happens to be my brother. I can give information about family member, but not a patient. I’m not a legal expert but I think even though it was their brother, their brother was still a patient, so wouldn’t HIPAA still apply? ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/109 "2025-09-10T17:19:14Z")
I went in to get my tubes tied and they kept asking me if I’d had all these tests and scolded me for not having them done. I asked since when I needed all those invasive tests for a tube tying. It seems there was another woman who was coming for a much more serious surgery. She was my age (maybe the same birthday?) Had my name first middle last, and lived on Syl’s- “street”. I lived on Syl’s- “road”. Also had _lots_ of girls in my high school with my first name. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/110 "2025-09-10T17:57:13Z")
I think that depends on how he got the information- if he got it from the hospital records HIPAA should apply . But if the brother called the person who answered the phone and and said” there was a screw up with my surgery; they thought it was for some other guy with the same name “ maybe not. If the records were already corrected and the person only knew about the mix up because of the phone call, that’s got nothing to do with the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/111 "2025-09-10T18:17:01Z")
Interesting. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/112 "2025-09-10T18:48:51Z")
After I typed that I thought of the same thing about the HIPPA thing. (I got the story 2nd hand so I may have missed part of it). Maybe it was still wrong, and she came up with that to justify giving the information. It was their fault that my record was sent in error. It’s logical that we would be concerned about the mistake. They really should ease the concern. Maybe she could have said “another patient” rather than a patient with the same name. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/113 "2025-09-10T18:52:49Z")
Once I got a long handwritten letter from a total stranger who supposedly shared my name. The rambling gist was that he was contacting everyone with that name, for nebulous reasons which seemed to include starting some kind of movement or at least association of all the (Jackmanniis) he could find. Even if there hadn’t been such creepy vibes\*, I wouldn’t have responded. My name is hardly common enough to establish an influential political party or even get a respectable number of signatures on [change.org](http://change.org). \*vaguely reminiscent of the Sherlock Holmes mystery _The Red-Headed League_. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/114 "2025-09-10T20:10:41Z")
So you’re saying he wanted to be the one **Jackmannii** to rule them all? 😉 Maybe instead of _The Red-Headed League_ he was hoping for a novel riff on _Strangers on a Train_. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/115 "2025-09-10T22:06:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Maybe instead of _The Red-Headed League_ he was hoping for a novel riff on _Strangers on a Train_. Or [Are You Dave Gorman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Dave_Gorman%253F)? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/116 "2025-09-10T22:20:32Z")
That link is messed up. Here’s a fresh try: **[Are You Dave Gorman? - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Dave_Gorman%3F)**. But that is a fun story. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/117 "2025-09-11T00:47:43Z")
About nine years ago, I started getting phone calls at my office, from companies I’d never dealt with, asking me very weird financial decision/investment questions. I discovered that my name doppelganger, twenty-five years older than me, worked in a different directorate as a subcontractor. We share a very common first name, and the same spelling (and pronunciation) of our last name . . . and are _completely_ unrelated. The only difference is our middle name. The Company switchboard does not know this. I called “Joe” one day back then, and filled him in. We chuckled, he said he’d take care of it–to his credit _he did_ . . . mostly. Occassionally one or two would slip through a year, but it wasn’t a big deal. And then, Joe retired just before COVID. _Holy crap_, the calls started coming in. . . Four or five a week. Thankfully, because we were all working from home, the office phone didn’t bother me. For a 6 month period, it was me just deleting all of those voicemails. Joe didn’t tell me where he was going, nor left me a phone number for contact, so I just deleted crap. Things slowed down after awhile, but to this day I get a call or two from telemarketers for “Joe.” Because of this, I just let unknown phone numbers go to voicemail anymore . . . Joe, wherever you are, I wish you well. **But I sure wish you’d update your contact info.** Tripler Otherwise, I might just liquidate your shares in AMZ and donate it all to the local pet shelter. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/118 "2025-09-11T01:37:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That link is messed up. Question marks in page titles always seem to do that! No wonder [Hollywood considers them bad luck](https://www.zachburchill.ml/questionable_movies/). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/119 "2025-09-11T09:38:17Z")
There are a lot of ways that copying and pasting urls with special characters can go bad. Especially on a phone. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406/120 "2025-09-11T17:27:40Z")
There are one or two other people out there with my same first/last name but that’s never been an issue. There ARE, however, two people with very similar gmail addresses. e.g. if my email was “mary\_williams”, think “mary\_j\_williams” or “mary\_wiliams”. So a few years back, I suddently got a bunch of emails in a single day “So sorry to hear about (name), thinking of you both at this time”. Well, I have a brother with that same name, so it gave me rather a scare, before I realized that someone had gotten the email wrong. e.g. “mary\_j\_williams’ when I’m ‘mary\_williams’. I started replying to each sender saying “Sorry, I think this is the wrong address”. And one of them replied with “Oops, sorry, mistyped, it should be “mary\_j\_williams”. I was THEN able to reply to all of those messages saying “Here’s the correct email, sorry to hear about your friend”. And I forwarded them to “mary\_j\_williams” who was quite grateful. Amusingly enough, a year or so later, mary\_j\_williams accidentally put “mary\_williams” on some travel insurance site and I was getting her messages. And I tried emailing myself a snapshot of one of my parakeets and accidentally sent it to her instead! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-experience-s-dealing-with-someone-who-had-the-same-name-as-you/1021406.md?page=7)