# Know anybody named after famous people? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522 "2016-03-10T03:57:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/1 "2016-03-10T03:57:43Z")
I have a coworker named “Elvis” (he’s from Spain interestingly enough). Not surprisingly, his mom was a big fan of Mr. Presley. Do you know of anyone, family or friends, who was named after a famous person? Extra points for someone who has first and last names of a celebrity. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/2 "2016-03-10T04:08:55Z")
My friend’s brother is named Derek after Derek & The Dominos. Another friend’s daughter is named Sydney and I am pretty sure it’s after Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/3 "2016-03-10T04:19:46Z")
Jon Stewart Leibowitz was named after John Stuart Mill. Not a friend or family member but do I get bonus points for naming a celebrity named after a celebrity? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/4 "2016-03-10T04:39:50Z")
My uncle Winston was supposedly named after somebody. I forget who. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/5 "2016-03-10T04:42:58Z")
I had a friend growing up whose first and middle names were John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/6 "2016-03-10T04:45:20Z")
A colleague of my dad’s named his sons Thor, Sigurd and Tyr. Their sister, Erin, was really pissed that she didn’t get named Freya or Sif. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/7 "2016-03-10T04:56:54Z")
Does it count if they renamed them selves? My dad’s initials were J. R. Faulkner. But he legally changed it to J.R.R. Faulkner to be like Tolkien a few decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/8 "2016-03-10T04:57:40Z")
my name is Brandon and my dad said I was named after Brandon Lee but I don’t know if he was joking or not ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/9 "2016-03-10T05:04:46Z")
I graduated from high school in 1981. I had a classmate named John Fitzgerald Kennedy (surname). ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/10 "2016-03-10T05:07:28Z")
I had a great uncle named Robert Lee _surname_. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/11 "2016-03-10T05:08:09Z")
My great grandfather was Grover Cleveland [Lastname], and three more generations have been named for him (GC Junior, III, and IV.) Happily, the madness ended with my generation. And apparently my Grandfather Cleve liked naming defenseless infants after politicians. He named another son Talmadge, after one of Georgia’s governors. My father’s father was named for a more progressive figure than the guv: Henry W. Grady - journalist, orator, champion of the Union, and avowed white supremacist. My father was a Junior, so that’s 2 generations there. (I wanted to name my son Henry, but the Grady bit just wasn’t going to happen. Because I’m somewhat traditional, but not cruel.) My sister was named Michelle in 1973, because Daddy liked the name of a child in the neighborhood who had been named for the Beatles’ song. Does that count? (And my littlest is also Michelle, after my late sister.) But I named my older daughter Alana long before that Honey Booboo kid hit the scene! ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/12 "2016-03-10T05:44:44Z")
My best friends named their son Geddy Alexander. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/13 "2016-03-10T05:48:56Z")
I knew a Stephen King, but since he’s about the same age as the author, it’s certain that it’s pure coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/14 "2016-03-10T05:55:47Z")
Just thought of another one. About a year ago I had a student in one of my classes named Lisa Simpson. I would guess she was in her early- to mid-twenties, so it’s quite possible she was born after the show debuted. It’s also entirely possible her parents had never heard of the show at the time, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/15 "2016-03-10T05:58:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > A colleague of my dad’s named his sons Thor, Sigurd and Tyr. Their sister, Erin, was really pissed that she didn’t get named Freya or Sif. I met a guy yesterday whose daughter is named Freya. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/16 "2016-03-10T05:59:00Z")
Another parent at my son’s school named their son Jesse James. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/17 "2016-03-10T06:00:22Z")
One friend of mine - a pedal steel player - named his kid Gram, after Gram Parsons. Another friend named her kid Nesta, after Robert Nesta Marley. I had a dog named Jaco, after the bassist. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/18 "2016-03-10T06:10:53Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > My best friends named their son Geddy Alexander. Was their second child named some variation of John Neil? 😛 p.s. Did their son legally change his name to Gary? LOL ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/19 "2016-03-10T06:18:29Z")
My younger brother is named Jerry Brown. My younger sister (before she married) was named Kathleen Brown. My older brother is named Pat Brown. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522/20 "2016-03-10T06:24:21Z")
My grandmother’s middle names were “Marie Antoinette”. I had a friend named “Dylan”, born 1966. It’d be cool if his parents were both blond(e), but I don’t think they were. I know someone with at least two famous namesakes, one of whom (during acquaintance’s birth year) recorded an album live at the Apollo, the other of whom ran for 1863 yards. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-anybody-named-after-famous-people/748522.md?page=2)