I was trying to get an answer to some technical question and wondered into a thread about pseudonyms on the SDMB. Two things: I never heard of Arnold Winkelreid of Switzerland who fell upon a bunch of the enemies spears during some battle. Huumm. I thought that was his real name. Turns out that it isn’t. He didn’t want to use his real name because it’s a fairly unusual name [as if AW isn’t] and he didn’t want folks stealing his old Mongolia stuff when he’s on holiday. Makes sense to me.
But it also got me to thinking how rare is my name?
I have two last names so I checked under Yahoo people search and found out just how unique I am:
Phone listings:
there are 139 folks with the same name as my maiden name
there are 200 folks with the same name as my married name
there are 0 folks with my legal name
Eaddresses:
there are 24 folks with the same name as my maiden name
there are 72 folks with the same name as my married name
there are 0 folks with my legal name
hhhuuummmm. I am too cheap to pay for a search on my legal name. I’m listed in the local phone book, why can’t I find me via Yahoo? Final question: how can I find out where I am listed?
I saw the thread title and remembered you had an interview and was afraid that this thread was a boo-hoo the interview didn’t go well.
whew.
Yes, I’ve searched for my name. got lots of hits on hit (fewer than I’d thought, my last name’s unusual, but not that bad). was especially surprised to see my brother’s name more often than mine (his first name is Karl, spelled wiht a K)
Searched on my ex-s names brings out very, very ,very few. There’s 6 in Michigan (my ex, his current wife, his sister and two brothers and my son) and, haven’t found any in any other state. It’s pronounced wrong, too.
I am one of the least unique persons in America. My RL name isn’t John Smith, but it’s close. Common first name, common last name. There are about a dozen of us John Smiths working for the same company. Three of us have the same middle initial, although my middle name is, in fact, relatively rare.
I have gotten: (OJS == "other John Smith) OJS’s mail, OJS’s e-mail, OJS’s phone calls. I have been offered to cash out OJS’s IRA, I’ve been accused of crimes (at least it was a minor one) that OJS committed. I’ve had OJS’s (detrimental) info inserted into my personnel folder. I’ve been interviewed for a job which was then offered to OJS. I’ve lost things and had them returned to OJS. I routinely get phone calls asking if I’m the John Smith who … I’ve received an impassioned e-mail from OJS’s daughter about reconciling. For a while there was an OJS who was a local youth pastor who apparently didn’t give out his phone number much because I got a LOT of calls for Pastor John. I’ve been asked to speak at meetings where they really wanted OJS and vice versa.
It’s not a terrible thing but it is sometimes annoying. My one consolation is that Mrs. Pluto’s first name is even more common than mine so it’s even worse for her. When we were expecting our first child there were seven Mary Smiths seeing the same OB, two of whom were married to John Smith. I just hope we ended up with the right kid.
I kinda on the opposite end of the spectrum from pluto. My name is unique to the point that I have never met a name relative with the same last name as me. The down side however is that no one has ever pronounced my name correctly on the first try.
Well I put both my first and last name in the Yahoo people list and came up with 2 in the telephone search and 4 in the email search. Of course I didn’t show up on either search, must be I’ve got some sort of stealth mode I didn’t know about.
I know how you feel, pluto. Yes, it is I, David Jones. There’s only about a billion of us. I’ve had all sorts of things havven to me because of other Daves. I’ve gotten their checks, their email, and have been pulled over because of them.
kiffa - not just some battle, but the battle of Sempach (1397).
I was only kidding about the valuable Mongolian artifacts. No such thing at my house I’m afraid. But it’s true that with my first name and last name (IRL) you can easily find my address/phone number. That’s partly my fault because several years ago, in my first fit of Internet enthusiasm, I went to a bunch of “white pages” sites and filled in my information, naïvely thinking that old friends and relatives would look me up and send me e-mail. Instead I get invitations to porn sites.
UncleBeer - I’ve got a worse name for you. My wife has in her second grade class a child (vietnamese immigrant) with the unfortunate moniker of “Phuc Huu Ho”. Even the last name is a bummer!
If you were to put my surname through the search engines, you’re more likely to get some of my distant relatives, or my brother, than me. But if you included my first name, you’d almost definitely get me.
Not that I mind, I have no real paranoia or security fears. I’ve got little to hide or be worried about. (except maybe for that porn story I wrote and posted on the newsgroups)
Having a rare name can be kind of cool in some circumstances, but it does reduce anonymity when you need it.
Using Qwestdex.com, I’ve found 2 other people when my first and married names, and none with my first and maiden names.
Why am I being coy? I’m doing genealogy, my names are plastered all over the web. So let’s make that: I’ve found 2 other Katheryn Saunders, and no Katheryn Barbers.
According to Mauve Dog’s site, “Katheryn” ranks 951st. Wow, more common than Britney, Angelique, and Kaitlin? Of course, most of the Britneys, et al, running around now probably weren’t even born in 1990, but still, I’ve never met another Katheryn and have been disappointed almost every time I’ve perused those racks of “personalized” or “what does your name mean?” mugs, license plates, pencils, etc.
wow cool site, mauve dog. my last name maybe #259 in the states, however it’s tops in denmark. how did those hansens get out in frount of us in the states? my actual first name (that you’d have to be my mum to know) is no doubt top ten in russia. here in the states, it’s fingernails on chalkboard. i use my initials, it’s tough enough getting the last name pronouced correctly, let alone first and last.
Like Veb the misunderstood, I appear to be the one and only in the U.S. with my first name/surname combo.
But my parents weren’t so much sadists as heavily into ethnic identity in their childbearing years. My older sister and I both have given names that are very common in Ireland, but are unusual enough in the U.S. to require continual spelling and re-spelling, explanation and correction. My younger brother (they’d learned by then) has a regular name.
I have a common last name – 200 hits in L.A. alone – though my family uses the least common of half a dozen variant spellings.
I got about 5 minutes into the last name list before I realized that if I tried to look for mine, I’d be here all night.
I wish that Census site was searchable.
188 in Yahoo phone search with my last name, although if you did that search in Brazil, you’d get many more. Three different ones have the same uncommonly spelled (at least in this country) version of my aunt’s first name, but are not my aunt (although she is listed). The other two aunts have no listings, and neither does my uncle. My grandfather has one person who shares his first and last name. Again, in Brazil, that would be much more common. 2 people share my incredibly common first name and my rather uncommon last name, although nobody is listed who has my particular nickname for said incredibly common first name.
On the flip side, 53 people share my stepfather’s first and last name. A full 200 share my fiance’s rather common combination of names, and when I’m married, I’ll move up from being one of 3 to one of 68. Nobody shares my best friend’s full name.
