# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/161 "2010-12-08T17:36:20Z")
My last name is Cunningham – an extremely common name, but held by surprisingly few of the super-famous. (My full name isn’t much less common: James Cunningham. It’s still sort of trippy seeing it, e.g., on the front cover of books.) As for the most famous, that I’m not sure about. Probably Ritchie, to be honest. For real people … maybe Randall Cunningham? I know next to nothing about football so I’m not sure how famous he is at this point. Edit: Heck, my _full_ name’s common enough that there’re several choices for most famous with it. Take your pick from the James, Jims, and Jimmys: [Cunningham - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunningham) There’s even a state senator in my state named James Cunningham, although he goes by Cal. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/162 "2010-12-08T20:04:49Z")
The man who owned the house in which Lee surrendered to Grant. And a one-hit wonder singer/songwriter. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/163 "2010-12-08T23:27:42Z")
I am, I guess. When I google my last name, about 80% of the results refer to me. Same if I google my first name. Having Google’s webcrawlers all over the SDMB really bumped my web presence! Oh, you mean my real name? ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/164 "2010-12-09T01:56:51Z")
It depends. There’s a very famous supermodel (one of the premier supermodels of the '80s), a Yankees Hall-of-Famer, and an Academy Award-winning actress. It probably says something about what kind of person you are that you would consider one more famous than the others, but the first one I thought of was the baseball player. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/165 "2010-12-09T02:25:47Z")
An American martial artist and actor turned internet meme; a prominent, progressive, Republican senator from the first half of the 20th century; a retired professional boxer and former junior middleweight champion. That’s all I knew about, though Wikipedia has more. Don’t know why I’m being coy. I even see someone else has already chimed in with my surname. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/166 "2010-12-09T02:36:47Z")
Either some dude who came up with a shorthand style or one of the co-founders of Waffle House. Most people haven’t heard of either. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/167 "2010-12-10T19:48:21Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > The man who owned the house in which Lee surrendered to Grant. > > And a one-hit wonder singer/songwriter. “Vincent” was #12 in the US and #1 in the UK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604.md?page=8)