I got a friend request from Facebook. Didn’t recognize the name, but went to his page. Didn’t recognize him, so I went to his friends list.
It has 30 people on it. All of them have names that are very similar to mine.
We’re being collected! Like STAMPS.
I did this a few years ago. I had stumbled on a hilarious video made by a husband and wife, exploring their ancestry. I set up a Facebook page and began “collecting” people with their unusual last name. About 20 of them accepted my friend requests. For two years I was imbedded in their clan. 
Several had unusual friends who ended up on my friend list, including a professional speaker and a drag queen.
I tend to view the Internet as a huge playground. That’s the only explanation I can give you.
Seriously, this is one reason I closed my Facebook account – total strangers from who knows where wanting to be my “friend.”
Er, you could just say no. ???
Dave Gorman would have had an easier time if Facebook was around.
Some years ago when FB was relatively new, I was listening to “27 Jennifers” by Mike Doughty and remembering my high school during the peak Jennifer years, and I thought it would be amusing to see how many Facebook friends named Jennifer I could amass. I never did anything about it, and there’s no good reason why it amused me.
That said, it would probably creep me out if someone did it to me. Which is probably why my better nature prevented me from actually going through with it.
Reminds me of this guy who friended people with the same name and tried to recreate their (ridiculous) photos.
I am Facebook friends with a somewhat famous actor who shares my very rare last name.He did a search on our name and contacted me. We exchanged a few emails to see if we could find a link, but no dice so far.