# Most Famous Person With Your Family Name **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604 "2010-11-23T01:14:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/81 "2010-11-23T18:51:32Z")
A nephew who played with the Vikings. A BIL who was among the pioneers in Silicone Valley, but I suppose he’d only be known by a select crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/82 "2010-11-23T19:08:46Z")
Gloria Swanson. Actually I have an Aunt Gloria but that’s not her, my grandpa named her after the Sunset Blvd. actress so if anyone asked if he was related he could say she was his daughter. Grandpa had a strange sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/83 "2010-11-23T19:15:39Z")
Mystery writer Anne George, who looks remarkably like my mother. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/84 "2010-11-23T19:38:35Z")
A former Alabama speaker-of-the-house, a statistician whose name is in stats books, and a computer wonk/author. ---
**Author:** ![Rahne\_McCloud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rahne\_McCloud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rahne_McCloud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/85 "2010-11-23T19:55:06Z")
A band leader in the 40’s and 50’s, who was also the inventor of a kitchen appliance. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/86 "2010-11-23T21:40:03Z")
I’d have to go back a couple of generations on my mother’s side before finding a famous female golfer with one of our family names. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/87 "2010-11-23T21:57:17Z")
My eldest Daughter. She will probably gain some more notoriety when the London Olympics comes around. ---
**Author:** ![Palmer\_Eldritch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@Palmer\_Eldritch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palmer_Eldritch)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/88 "2010-11-24T02:16:44Z")
A movie actor-turned-director who is currently working on a film about ships that battle each other. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/89 "2010-11-24T02:26:24Z")
I think we are all tied with a zero fame. It’s not actually super rare, There are a couple thousand in the country, but no one anybody has heard of. I once saw a late night espn show . Kind of a recap of the really low level car racing and buggy racing and crap, was the only time I have seen anyone with the name on TV. Google gives a couple of facebook pages, and ohhh there’s a auto repair shop named after the owner. We are an undistinguished lot. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/90 "2010-11-24T02:55:29Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > I’m pretty sure John Cho is more famous than that guy. While I knew the shooter was Korean, I would have no idea what the same was. Forced to guess, I would have guessed Kim just to play the percentages. Or Margaret Cho. I had no idea what the whacko’s name was that shot up VT. Daniel Hugh Kelly. Or Ned Kelly, if we’re going with the “most famous killer with your name” theme. It’s pretty common. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/91 "2010-11-24T06:34:11Z")
The only famous “people” with my surname are a cartoon family. Which leads people to assume that my real name is a pseudonym, and/or to ask after the cartoon characters as if they were my real family. And to annoy my family with prank calls until we opted out of the phone book. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/92 "2010-11-24T06:39:04Z")
It’s an unusual name, and nobody’s famous. Actually, my parents were closer to being famous than anyone else. They were both locally well-known artists. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/93 "2010-11-24T06:55:25Z")
I have a very common surname and there are tons of famous people with it. If I had to guess the most famous, I think I would go with the hardest working man in show business. My dad shares his name with a former governor of California. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/94 "2010-11-24T07:02:33Z")
A nice (or maybe not so nice) lady in Chicago. She owned a cow. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/95 "2010-11-24T07:33:59Z")
My surname is rather unusual. There’s no one in our city with the name who isn’t related to me. Searching for people with my surname I find there’s one (in)famous crackpot astronomer/conspiracy theorist who seems to have dirtied up the web with his nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/96 "2010-11-24T08:01:16Z")
A U.S. singer. Though it may just be his stage name. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/97 "2010-11-24T08:48:17Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > A famous 15-century biblical scholar and translator, who was also a Spanish politician. I wouldn’t put it like that in Portugal if I was you, **Nooner**. It was at the time when we shared the same king, but still… ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/98 "2010-11-24T09:07:58Z")
A fictional character for me: the school counselor on _South Park_. I’m starting the process of becoming a teacher. I can’t decide who will make fun of me more - the students or my colleagues. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/99 "2010-11-24T11:54:45Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > In the United States Seung-Hui Cho, Virginia Tech shooter Wouldn’t that be Infamous? ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/100 "2010-11-24T17:23:53Z")
I have an uncommon last name. There’s been a few politicians, CEOs, a composer, and an engineer/inventor with it, but no one many people would recognize outside of very specific circles. However, a very popular (fictional) character in a very popular show has it. So if you were to mention it, that’s who would come to mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604.md?page=6)