# Poll: Do you have a unique real life name? (Anonymous, obviously) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202 "2014-10-13T14:26:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/41 "2014-10-13T18:45:53Z")
Missed the edit - all of that comes from two hours interview/conversation with a senior Ellis Island historian. (Who I was trying to talk into letting me into the hospital side of the island to shoot the buildings. Didn’t work. But it was a fascinating day.) ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/42 "2014-10-13T18:49:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Unlikely. Despite the deeply-embedded trope, agents and clerks at immigration ports did \*not \*change immigrant names. They were strictly \*forbidden \*to, even if the immigrant wanted to be known by an alternate or Americanized name. Some changed their name through simply using it and establishing their lives around it, but most had to get a court-issued paper to move forward and keep, say, old-world degrees and letters of reference relevant. > > Immigration was an important and contested area of US bureaucracy. Immigrants had to have valid papers, officially issued by their government. Those papers had to be accepted and handled at face value, not as memos. Names had to be recorded exactly as on those papers. When transliteration was needed, a clerk fluent in that language handled the task. > > Errors happened, yes, but there is no known case of an immigrant having their name changed, spelled differently, rearranged or Americanized. That makes a good story down the road, but Grandpa Shlomo Finkelstein was not heartlessly revised into being Samuel Frame by da gummint… he did it himself. I will definitely defer to your expertise on this, but am still left wondering where in the process the change from Cyrillic to English writing came in. The documents we have from my great-grandmother include her identification papers written in Cyrillic, and then nothing until her US immigration papers in English. It’s not a crazily different name – only one letter is different from the more typical way of transliteration. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/43 "2014-10-13T18:55:36Z")
I’ll throw out my exact example, since I don’t really expect internet anonymity. My name is Benjamin Thomas Duffy. If you’re looking for an exact first-middle-surname match, I think there are only two of us in the world, and the other is a kid. If you look just for first name-surname, there are dozens of us. If you Google image search “Benjamin Duffy,” I crop up in the first row of pictures. (Amusingly, once you get down below the first few dozen, you start to see covers of books that I’ve either reviewed on Goodreads, or uploaded as a Goodreads librarian.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/44 "2014-10-13T19:01:10Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I have an extremely unusual name, but thanks to the magic of the internet, I’m aware of a few more of me out there. I didn’t think about including my middle name. If you throw that in, I’m completely certain I’m the only one in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/45 "2014-10-13T19:28:05Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I will definitely defer to your expertise on this, but am still left wondering where in the process the change from Cyrillic to English writing came in. The documents we have from my great-grandmother include her identification papers written in Cyrillic, and then nothing until her US immigration papers in English. It’s not a crazily different name – only one letter is different from the more typical way of transliteration. My expertise is second-hand, but the historian was vehement about the topic - obviously tired of the deeply ingrained assumption that Ellis Island practically invented names for every immigrant. I feel a small obligation to carry his message wherever it’s appropriate. Transliteration isn’t a perfect science - could have been an error, could have been by someone who had different education. Immigration papers are often accessible in the original handwritten logs etc. Have you poked around EllisIsland, FamilySearch and Ancestry? You might find her original entry log and some answers. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/46 "2014-10-13T19:51:39Z")
Pretty goddam unique. Imagine, “Montreal Pontifex” or “Stanislaus Wethammer.” Yes, my real name is right up in that kind of category. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/47 "2014-10-13T19:58:02Z")
My last name is uncommon enough that when I find someone else who has it I wonder if we’re related. My first name is a common second name in its original form. I’m pretty sure the combination is unique. But there’s no hiding from Google. Even with my modest level of notoriety most of the hits for just my first name lead back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/48 "2014-10-13T20:01:10Z")
With regard to my first name, I selected “rare in this country”, but I don’t know if it’s any more common elsewhere. I’ve only heard of one other person with the name, but looking at a few naming sites, it’s considered very rare. If you’re talking about the entire name (first, middle, last), then I’ve never heard of the middle or last, though the middle exists on naming sites. I wouldn’t be surprised if I were the only one in the world with the combination. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/49 "2014-10-13T20:08:38Z")
My first name is unique. I know only one other person who spells and pronounces it the same way I do. My last name is fair to middling common. It’s a common word but nor a real common surname. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/50 "2014-10-13T20:14:13Z")
My user name is my real name, or one of them. The other is “really” unique. The third part is very mundane and most people use that. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/51 "2014-10-13T20:17:31Z")
I voted not for myself but for my sons. My wife and I both have Swedish ancestors and we decided to use family named from there (as well as my Slavic grandfather) so while not common here, the names are more common in Europe. My last name is also Swedish and not terribly common here so it makes me and my family pretty easy to find. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/52 "2014-10-13T20:19:34Z")
Unique enough that I was quite surprised to find a few of me out there. When it first became popular to google yourself, I googled my name and was surprised to find out that my doppelgänger is a gay porn star. That provided an interesting topic for discussion one day when my wife was googling people she knew. He’s better looking than me. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/53 "2014-10-13T20:27:06Z")
There appears to be one person and one street with my full exact name, spelled “correctly,” i.e. the language that matches the surname. If you shift them all to an Italian spelling, you get one person in Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@The\_Dord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dord)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/54 "2014-10-13T21:59:59Z")
I have a very common first name. Last name is very common too (especially in the UK). The combination is very common too. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/55 "2014-10-13T22:11:54Z")
As far as I know I am the only one of my first name-last name combo in the US, A google search shows only me. My last name is not common, my first name is not unusual. I’m kind of surprised there isn’t another person with my name. I would be surprised if there were more than 2 or 3 of us. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/56 "2014-10-13T22:14:55Z")
Stephen as in Steven, not Steffan. Amazes me how often people get this wrong. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/57 "2014-10-13T22:51:02Z")
For many years I was unique on Google. Then a few years ago, a single listing showed up for my first name-last name combination in South Africa. And then a year or two ago, someone with my first name married someone with my last name. She always uses the full three-name combo, so there’s no mistaking her for me, but her Facebook page has now taken over the number one Google spot (I’m not on Facebook). I still have spots 2-5, then the South African one, and the rest are mostly me. The first few images that pop up are all of my father. I don’t think that there is an actual image of me on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/58 "2014-10-13T23:16:45Z")
Just first-last is relatively unique, and when you throw in my middle name and Confirmation name, I’d go with unique. They’re all different national origins, so what are the chances? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/59 "2014-10-13T23:22:26Z")
I’m pretty sure there is nobody else alive in the US who has my exact first name and last name. My last name is pretty uncommon. There is a cluster of us centered on New England that I’m related to and a cluster in the upper Midwest that is of no known relation. There’s also a German cluster but none has my first name, which is of British origin. There was a guy of the Midwest cluster with my exact first name and last name (but a different middle name) who died in 1997. There may be a guy living in the Midwest with a very similar name, but most of the references I see are misspelled references to the same guy as died in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202/60 "2014-10-14T00:08:34Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’m the only person in the US with my Firstname Lastname. My lastname seems to be limited only to direct relatives, having come into existence in the early 1900’s. Until a handful of years ago I was the only person with my first and last name. But two other women with my first name married men with my last name, so now there are a whole 3 of us in the entire world. There are fewer than 2500 people on earth with my surname, ftr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-do-you-have-a-unique-real-life-name-anonymous-obviously/701202.md?page=4)