# Put your first name into Google; how far do you have to go before you don't recognise the person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004 "2015-02-18T12:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/61 "2015-02-19T22:46:38Z")
The third entry is for a character name on a long running TV show. I didn’t remember the name but after reading the entry I should have. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/62 "2015-02-19T22:49:29Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Sorry to hijack but will someone \*please \*look up their first name in the Urban dictionary? Because I’m pretty baffled at what came up for mine, like there’s some sort of algorithm (not the right word, I’m sure) built in there or something:confused: I’m not sure that was such a good idea in my case. > [@](#): > > A woman who has no limit to her sexual appetite. She is ready for sex 24/7, always enjoys it, has many, many orgasms with no effort at all and is very attentive to the pleasure of the man as well. She is an awsome lover to have if you are really lucky enough to find her. Once again, I remind the Board that I am a guy ☹ ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/63 "2015-02-19T23:13:33Z")
I first got something to do with SCUBA, mention of a biblical person, and some sort of Japanese rating thing. Then there were a couple of persons I had never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/64 "2015-02-19T23:33:03Z")
A couple local places A couple popular movies A couple video game references Actress from Gilligan’s Island Then some Hall of Fame basketball player I’ve never heard of. Staley Urban Dictionary:An irresistible beautiful girl who can make her very special sexy friend hard and horny and is proud of it. “If you were here right now I’d Dawn you.” ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/65 "2015-02-19T23:36:26Z")
The first google entry is for thing rather than a person. The remainder of the first page and next page are names of relatively unknown athletes and businessmen. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/66 "2015-02-20T00:03:17Z")
Hello, my name is Gary. First link: Wikipedia entry for Gary, Indiana Second Link: Wikipedia entry for ‘Gary (given name)’ Third link: A post I made on Google+ (yeah…I can hear you laughing…don’t judge) Fourth link: “Report: Several playoff teams, including Hawks, trying to trade for Gary Neal” From context, I can tell you that Gary Neal plays NBA basketball for some team other than the Atlanta Hawks, but other than that he’s a complete mystery to me. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/67 "2015-02-20T18:09:44Z")
[QUOTE=Jack of Words;18143981 Wtf is a ‘Minecraft Steve’? I nearly had a whole page I knew, except the last entry was a professor at Cardiff U.[/QUOTE] Steve is the name of the main character in Minecraft. I get pages of Jamie Oliver links, before someone called Jamie-T turns up that I’ve not heard of. Jamie Lee Curtis is below even him. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/68 "2015-02-20T20:09:43Z")
It seem like the Google algorithm figures people just don’t search for the first name of famous people. It takes until page 8 of “Bill” to get Bill Clinton (and even then, it’s not him, it’s the Clinton foundation.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/69 "2015-02-21T00:21:57Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > It seem like the Google algorithm figures people just don’t search for the first name of famous people. It takes until page 8 of “Bill” to get Bill Clinton (and even then, it’s not him, it’s the Clinton foundation.) Good point. With this in mind, I just typed my first name in the search box and let it autocomplete, instead of actually searching. First suggestions: Jan Hooks Jan Michael Vincent Jan Smithers (no idea) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/70 "2015-02-21T00:57:19Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Jan Smithers (no idea) Every guy who remembers the late 1970s knows she was [Bailey](http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4813&d=1353147389) on WKRP in Cincinnati 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/71 "2015-02-21T01:17:02Z")
Damn my parents for naming me Taylor-swift. I gave up looking at page 300. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/72 "2015-02-21T01:22:17Z")
There is no one famous in the entire world with my first name. Until the last 5 or 6 years I could only find 2 other people with it (both men and older than me so I wasn’t the first). There seems to be at least 4 or 5 others of us now and I think one of them is a woman!! Anyway, I didn’t recognize any of them. Looked as far as page 5 and didn’t find myself. I’m far too lazy to look farther than that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/73 "2015-02-21T01:28:45Z")
My name is Peter. Googling for Peter, the first three results refer to the saint or the Wikipedia page on the name. The fourth result is some “virtual tarot” site called “Peter answers.” Then we get to people with last names. We have “Peter Dinklange” and “Peter Drucker,” then “Peter Merholz” before we get to “Peter Gabriel,” somebody I had actually heard of. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/74 "2015-02-21T20:42:14Z")
The first several links go to the TV cartoon character “Doug”. Then it links Doug Benson, Doug Aitken, and a character on Portlandia, none of which I’m familiar with. A search of my first and last names goes 8 pages before my DeviantArt page comes up. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/75 "2015-02-21T21:40:54Z")
I had to go 7 name entries down just to get to the first one I recognized. (Skipping over uses that didn’t apply to people.) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/76 "2015-02-22T00:43:48Z")
fourth result. I had no idea there was a band named “James” in England. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/77 "2015-03-05T12:07:21Z")
I know this is just a minor thread but the only reason I haven’t responded is due to Tapatalk making it now impossible to see your own threads and me only occasionally accessing this board on an actual laptop. Also because we’ve all (haven’t we?) done searches for our own full name now and then, but this is just for reasons of curiosity. > [@Octarine](#): > > I can’t even find an actual person - it’s just some computer programs, a flower, a musical, etc. I’m curious about your real first name, now. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Barbara > > I just went by the “suggestions” that came up when I typed in the name > > Barbara Corcoran was first - surprised me but I recognized the name - she owns a big real estate company ( paid placement, maybe) > Barbara Walters was second - no surprise there > Barbara Stanwyck was third - a little surprising but I know who she is > The fourth one got me > Barbara Bowman------WTF…turns out she’s one of the Cosby accusers > > I guess I was mostly surprised that Barbara Bush and Barbara Boxer were so low on the list also some model named Barbara Palvin that I had never heard of came in 5th Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of, if I was thinking at all - whether the results were surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/78 "2015-03-05T17:38:12Z")
I got two letters in and didn’t know the person. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/79 "2015-03-05T19:07:11Z")
Number 1 was a rapper I’ve never heard of. _Sic transit gloria mundi._ Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [March 6, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004/80 "2015-03-06T00:55:15Z")
First listing is a famous fashion designer; others I never heard of. According to the urban dictionary, my name means “chick magnet.” As a gay man, I find this mildly amusing. But it was interesting seeing references to my date of death, as well as marriage and divorce and kids . . . none of which I’ve had. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-your-first-name-into-google-how-far-do-you-have-to-go-before-you-dont-recognise-the-person/713004.md?page=5)