I was somewhat surprised when I asked my mom who I was named after and she told me it was after her favorite movie star/heartthrob at the time, Troy Donahue.
Okay, so I was named after one of those blond, blue-eyed hunky guys that starred in a bunch of those awful 60s surfer movies. He doesn’t do a thing for me and I’m better looking than he is anyhow ('specially since he’s dead now :rolleyes: ).
No, but everybody thinks I was. My name is the same as that of a 70’s movie actress…never hugely famous, but most people over 30 have heard of her. (It’s one of those things where the lady at DPS is taking my picture and she’s like, “Oh, my goodness! Did you know there’s an actress by that name?”)
And her “big movie” came out in 1977, and since I was born in '78, everybody just assumes I’m her namesake.
My parents were in a dope-infused fog in the late seventies and had never even seen the movie. So nope, I was not named after her. And please stop asking, dammit.
Kinda…my parents had been bickering constantly for weeks about what to name me. They were laying in bed one night watching the news. One of the reporters name was Jessica, and my dad said “that’ll work”, and my mom said “I guess”, and thus is my name.
I was named after Bette Davis’s character in the movie Jezebel. Note please that my mother did not actually like either Bette Davis OR the character she played in that movie… in fact, she wasn’t a big fan of the movie at all. What she did like, however, was the way Henry Fonda SAID the name in the movie. It apparently never occured to Mom that it was unlikely in the extreme that she’d ever hear Henry Fonda address me personally.
I have a fairly common name, but it also happens to be the name of TWO famous people.
I used to get late night crank phone calls from little girls bored and with access to a phone at slumber parties (star 69 ended those games when I would call back and speak to the mother), I still get “wits” making some stupid comment about my name - as if I hadn’t heard every one before.
Also, because it is a common name, I get every credit agency trying to get me to pay up some credit card, car payment, mortgage payment and whatever. They have no idea if I am the person they are trying to reach, but because I have the same name, they feel I am fair game to harrass.
If I ever had a kid, I would name them Brunhilde or Ichabad…something that does not get lost in the shuffle, would not be mistaken for someone else, and a name that forced you to have a sense of humor.
In Texas, one of the grand old ladies was Ima Hogg. I believe her sister was named Ura Hogg. Now those kids had parents with a true sense of humor! And they did quite nicely despite those odd names.
I was named after a famous feminist who has a clinic named after her.
She was not a pretty woman. Shementored Margaret Sanger and championed free speech.
She was awesome.
my parents named me to BE famous 
53 days after MLK man was slain, I was born and named in honor of him. As my father had done some work for the SCLC, I was blessed as an infant by Ralph Abernathy.
Hmmm, now you’ve got me wondering. Was it from Star Wars or Annie Hall? 
Just kidding.
Good stories, everybody, especially kung fu lola and jehova68. Keep 'em coming!
My middle name is Rupert, after ‘Rupert the Bear’. Luckily for me my mum didn’t get her way or it would have been my first name, thanks dad for saving me from many a playground ass kicking! My mothers reign of name terror almost claimed my sister as a victim, she was originally going to be called Scarlet after 'Scarlet ‘O Hara’ but my dads common sense prevailed - she may well have been a stripper by now if it hadn’t.
Well there was this King with a slingshot see?
He had a hand in an unfortunate meeting between a giant and a pebble.
I think he was slightly well known for a few years…
Do religious names, such as those that are Biblical and Islamic, count? After all, those people are famous. That puts me and hundreds of millions of others in this group.
Winston Churchill’s mother, who my mom thinks is cool and happens to have had the same name as my great-grandmother.
Sort of. My father decided to give me the first name Lisë (pronounced the same as Lisa), reasoning that opera star Risë Stevens had never had any trouble with people being able to pronounce her name. Wasn’t quite so easy for me.
first name from movie art director Cedric Gibbons, as my Grandmom played organ in the theater; middle name from Marc Antony as I was born on March 15th
Middle name is from the last name of a famous inventor, but that is because we are related. Does that count?
I inadvertently named myself after a well-known actress.
I was named after my father, who was named after my grandfather. I am actually “the Third” IRL. None of us is all that famous, however.
Regards,
Shodan
