# People with notable names- how do you approach them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715 "2010-01-20T17:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/41 "2010-01-20T23:33:35Z")
My name sounds very similar to the (unusual) name of the protagonist of a well known movie of the 80s. Yeah, I’ve heard all the jokes before. Let’s just say that anyone who brings this up has made a very poor first impression. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/42 "2010-01-20T23:41:55Z")
I go by my middle name, but my first name and last name, when read distractedly, looks like a famous singer’s. I’ve gotten a few comments, and it’s obnoxious. I’m more annoyed by the people that insist on calling me by a diminutive when I introduce myself with my full name. Is two syllables instead of one really that much of a hassle? ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/43 "2010-01-20T23:45:50Z")
I have the same name as an erstwhite famous person, but only one person has ever noticed the fact: an aging Irish Jesuit. Jim Jones, the name of a man a knew socially some time ago, it must be a hard name to carry. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/44 "2010-01-21T12:06:56Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Who would make a lame joke to LeRoy’s face? Big Jim Walker? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/45 "2010-01-21T13:02:11Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > As for my name - I have the same last name as a character on _South Park_, and I think it’s cool when people make the connection. If my name was Choksondik, I’d change it by deed poll. You might want to think about that. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/46 "2010-01-21T13:12:07Z")
Well I wouldn’t be able to help myself. If you introduced me to William Shakespeare I would have to say, “'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/47 "2010-01-21T13:31:01Z")
When I was young, I once worked for an American branch of an international company headquartered in the UK. Many of our senior executives were British, and they were all very pleasant and socially correct. Also, one of them was a tall man with a high hairline and ears that stuck out slightly. He didn’t look a _lot_ like Sean Connery, but if someone said, “Hey, he looks a _little_ like Sean Connery,” it would have been understandable. Also, he was named Bond. _James_ Bond. For real. There’s just no way, professionally speaking, that one can mention the obvious to someone who looks vaguely Connery-esque, has an English accent, (not Scottish, at least) and is named James Bond, without looking like some dimwitted American yokel. So we didn’t. He introduced himself as Jim, and that’s what we called him. But sometimes, after he’d taken the elevator back upstairs, I’d look at my office-mate and we’d both begin quietly humming the _James Bond_ theme. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/48 "2010-01-21T15:15:46Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I’m more annoyed by the people that insist on calling me by a diminutive when I introduce myself with my full name. Is two syllables instead of one really that much of a hassle? You know how I feel about this, but unasked for dimunitives offend me. If someone says their name is X, _that’s their name_! Not what you make up to be their name. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/49 "2010-01-21T19:01:00Z")
I used to work with a guy named Bart. His last name wasn’t Simpson, but he got all the inevitable joking about it. (“Bart! Why you little…,” etc.) Fortunately he was very easygoing and had a good sense of humor. It also helped that he was a Simpsons fan. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/50 "2010-01-21T20:54:45Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > Same here. My name’s the same as a prominent political dynasty, and yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them all. Multiple times. > > “Oh, wow, that’s even funnier than the first million times I heard it!” NOT. Are you a Kennedy too? My last name is Kennedy, my first initial is J. People seem oddly disappointed when they find out my middle name is Alan. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715/51 "2010-01-21T21:13:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I used to work with a guy named Bart. His last name wasn’t Simpson, but he got all the inevitable joking about it. (“Bart! Why you little…,” etc.) Fortunately he was very easygoing and had a good sense of humor. It also helped that he was a Simpsons fan. I seem to recall there was a guy in the Indianapolis phone book years ago named Bartholomew Simpson. I always wondered how he dealt with the jokes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-notable-names-how-do-you-approach-them/525715.md?page=2)