# What's with the weird spammer names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-weird-spammer-names/316914 "2005-08-14T00:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-weird-spammer-names/316914/21 "2005-08-16T15:31:03Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I got an email from “Laurie Raymound,” with the subject “leitmotivemoney,” and which had a text which said only one word: “bath”. I didn’t even have to open it, and it had no attachments. But…why? Sometimes spam will have a very small, almost invisible to the naked eye .gif .jpg in it, that when you open the email it allows the spammer to know your email address is valid. Not sure if thats the case here though. You can solve a lot of problems by using [spamgourmet.com](http://spamgourmet.com), which I just recently found it seems to be a nice service that allows me to post my email address anywhere without fear of getting to much spam. Its simple to use like this. If I wanted you to email me one time I would do this. [guizot.1.lostgoals@spamgourmet.com](mailto:guizot.1.lostgoals@spamgourmet.com) And it will forward your email to me 1 time in that case If I wanted you to be allowed to email me 3 times [guizot.3.lostgoals@spamgourmet.com](mailto:guizot.3.lostgoals@spamgourmet.com) And it will forward your email to me 3 times in that case, any more and it trashes it before it ever hits my inbox. Perfect for signing up for things online. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-weird-spammer-names/316914/22 "2005-08-16T16:01:28Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Well, the way I assume it works is that because it doesn’t see ‘Singularly’ or ‘Mentality’ or whatever the name is in the list of words/names generated from known spam, this is a “point” in favor of it being genuine. If they use the same name every time, then it becomes a known spam word, and then your filter detects it as point towards being spam, and not genuine mail. As I said, I understand how this would work in general but don’t see why this would be used in the ''from" field. Some of these spams also have nonsense words in the body of the e-mail, but others do not, aside from the misspellings of key words to evade filters. You can certainly generate lots of somewhat unusual names randomly that look as if they might be real names. I actually get a lot more of these than the nonsense names - currently in my trash are missives from: Ernestine Driver rosalie bartinelli Androcles Bryson Alfreda C. Manley Marilyn Gee Ida Fields Marta Kiser Maynard Lopez - as well as many more “standard” names All of these I assume were generated randomly. Except for Androcles and maybe Maynard, none are odd enough to attract attention. At the same time, none of them are particularly common, either. I would think this would be the ideal kind of name to have in the “from” field. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-weird-spammer-names/316914/23 "2005-08-16T16:13:04Z")
Don’t know if this would be right but perhaps its a random name generator as a “first” line of defense for a major ISP might be to stop incoming email if it comes in the thousands using the same name. So when they use the spam program it automatically throws random names into the From field rather then the same one? And the wierdness comes in from the twisted minds of the programmer of spam program? Really I have no solid information one way or the other. The only thing I know about Bayesian spam filtering is it “learns” So anything to mess with its learning might be of use to a spammer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-weird-spammer-names/316914.md?page=1)