A few weeks/months ago someone posted this link (http://howmanyofme.com/search/) in a thread.
I thought it was kind of neat and shared it with a friend who said something that surprised me and has made me think.
When my friend got married she was happy to take her husbands LN because it made her less unique.
She figures that she’s better off with a name like [name]Cora[/name] [name]Miller[/name]* than [name]Cora[/name] [name]Jamerson[/name]. Her reasoning was that her personal information is more secure because there are 382 [name]Cora[/name] Millers and only two [name]Cora[/name] Jamersons.
Many of us state that we would love to find a name for our child which is different, special, unique or simply not overly popular. But do any of us ever worry about our choices being one of a kind? Does it make sense to consider MN for our real or future children that would allow for a MN to work as a LN moniker? I wonder because with an increasingly plugged in world it’s becoming more an more important to have information online - like work history on LinkedIn and sharing some personal information and photos on FB and twitter. A lot of business now find it weird if you have NO online footprint so simply saying “s/he won’t be online” isn’t an option now and most likely won’t be in the future.
I remember that thread; I even replied to it. I have an unusual first name and an even more unusual last name. There are, according to that site, 36,187 people with my first name ([name]Ingrid[/name]) in the US and 364 people in the US with my last name. And 1 or less with my first AND last name, which pretty much means I’m the only one. I think that it can be dangerous to have an ususual name when on the Internet. For example, if you typed in the name “[name]Anna[/name] [name]Smith[/name]” you would probably get thousands of results. [name]Smith[/name] is supposedly the most popular last name in the United States, and [name]Anna[/name] is fairly popular as well.
My name is [name]Sarah[/name], it was #5 the year I was born. With my first and last name combo there are 1 or less of us in the USA… meaning I am the only one.
I don’t think it is a problem because I am smart enough to know that anything I post online is no longer private.
Really interesting thread, thanks for starting it. The real question is what is privacy going to mean in the future. [name]Job[/name]-hunters are penalized today for not having a public persona, Facebook is basically a prerequisite of teenage and college friendships though kids often “disguise” their identities by taking on new middle names or last names. People can find you in a virtual sense, but can they really find you in a literal way, and what happens if they do?
As a writer I am obviously comfortable with having a public persona. The virtual world is already so so crowded that it’s hard for me to understand how anyone can control their name appearing somewhere online or why they worry when/if it does. I’ve heard some executives pay large amounts of money to remain “ungoogleable” – at least when they don’t want the publicity.
I was talking today about two writers I admire, [name]Jim[/name] [name]Harrison[/name] and [name]Denis[/name] [name]Johnson[/name], and how I think they’re both less well-known than they might be because their names fade so much into the background. There will absolutely be many fewer boys with these kinds of names in the future as parents put a higher premium on individuality, and I have to think that’s a good thing. Better to have your own singular name and be known (or not) for what you choose rather than be confused with hundreds of other people with your name.
My name is [name]Isabella[/name], which is now super popular for younger kids, so in a few years there will be a million of them all over Facebook and twitter and stuff like that. However, I have an extremely unique, hyphenated, ethnic last name, and according to that website that was mentioned earlier, i am the only one with that full name (like other people have posted as well) and the only ones with my last name are directly related to me. I agree with namenerdshack, the only way it could be a problem is if you don’t recognize the fact that anything you put online is not yours anymore.
From what I can see, I am the only person in the UK with my first name and, before I got married, my maiden name was incredibly unusual here. I don’t lose sleep over it but I do stick to screen names on Twitter etc. I think that is just common sense nowadays really.
I actually know having the more common name is a bigger identity theft risk. It’s happened to my friend [name]John[/name] [name]Nelson[/name] and there are apparently a million of and my husband [name]James[/name]. My husband and I spent months getting some other [name]James[/name] credit history off his report and [name]John[/name] gets mail, emails, and other info for other [name]John[/name] Nelsons on a weekly basis. My best friend is a [name]Heather[/name] [name]Brown[/name], again a name of which there are tons. I’ve already worked with two other women named [name]Heather[/name] [name]Brown[/name]. I have a unique ethnic first and last and I’d rather be the only one than one of a bunch. or possibly thousands.
This is why apps like 4Square and FindFriends freak me out and I hate that now when I look for a map on google-maps on my phone or iPad it asks if I want to share it with my friends. If it’s so easy for me to track my own friends how hard can it be for someone with hacking skills?
Also I talked to a D-list actor I knew who was one of a kind and his fame made it easier for his identity to be stolen. He is now purposefully giving out misinformation about himself (and his twin brother) so it won’t happen again. This includes fake mn’s and birthdates, ect. This is a guy where recognizability and google-ability are important for him to have a successful career.
([name]Don[/name]'t get me wrong my children’s names will probably be one of a kind just because of the second mn I’d choose due to family traditions but you know… things definitely go bump in the night.)
Before I got married, I was the only one in the U.S. (maybe the world) with my first and last name. I didn’t like that. It was cool at first having the only Facebook profile in my name and being able to easily use my name for my email account. But I didn’t like that some stalker sites like Spokeo would show me with a spotlight, so to speak, because I was the only one that would show up under that name. (Though I was able to have listings removed.) Now my name isn’t common, but according to the OP link, there are over a dozen people with my name and that makes me feel better.
When choosing a name for my child, I actually eliminated a name that was too unique for privacy reasons. I instead choose a name that’s uncommon, but there are still plenty of others with that same name.
That’s an issue for me as well. My name is entirely unique, and because of that I don’t feel safe to post the whole thing online ever. There’s only one of me in the world guaranteed and that’s cool at times, but in reality it’s a bit daunting. [name]One[/name] search and if I had my full name anywhere all of my info would be easy access.
In this day and age, privacy is a massive issue. I think it’s better to have a name that’s not entirely unique, it’s better to have a few others who can help you blend in so to speak. If you need to stand out, use a stage name/pen name.
I’ve also known a lot of people online use their middle names as last names on facebook and other places. That way they stand out from the other [name]Cora[/name] [name]Miller[/name], but aren’t entirely out there.
http://howmanyofme.com/search/ is an estimate based on statistics, not a perfectly accurate count of the number of people with a particular name. If you really want to see it break down, try searching for very ethnic first and last names that would typically go together, or typically wouldn’t. For example, no way is the number of people named [name]Juan[/name] Avila equal to the number of people named [name]Juan[/name] [name]Chang[/name].
For an interesting twist on this…I just named my daughter [name]May[/name], and I wonder how that’s going to play out for her in the internet age. Since her name is such a common verb, it’s pretty much impossible to search for.
Ugh, I just used the spokeo site mentioned by a previous poster, and I was definitely the only one of me that came up in the US, whereas I searched my husband’s name and there were 1000s. [name]Even[/name] with my married name, which is much less unusual than my maiden, because of the unique spelling of my first name, I was the only one. I definitely think that it is something to keep in mind when naming. Anyone who wanted to find me would be able, just because I’ve paid bills or whatnot, not because I’m not careful on the Internet.
I have a super popular first name (#19 the year I was born) but have only ever been one of two people with my exact first and last name, even after I got married. So I would still choose a rare name over a common name.
Also, thanks to whoever mentioned Spokeo. That’s really creepy. They had a land view of my house. Thankfully you can opt out of being searchable on their site.
According to howmanyofme.com, there are 154,192 people with my first name ([name]Natalie[/name]), 86,653 with my last name, and only 42 with my first and last name. However, I have a rather unusual middle name, so I imagine I’m the only one with that exact name combo.
I don’t really want any child of mine to stick out too much, so I think realistically speaking, I’d put more “unique” or uncommon names in the middle slot.
I’m not too worried about
My last name is uncommon so no matter what first name my parents chose, I’d be the only one or one a a handful with that name
I agree. It’s much harder to prove you are who you say you are when there are hundreds of other people with the same name. My boyfriend has a common first, middle, and last name and there are hundreds a men around the globe with the same exact combo. It would be nothing for one of them to trade identities with him. I, on the other hand, have an uncommon first, middle, and last. It would be much harder for someone to impersonate me because I’m probably the only person with my full name. If bf and I ever have kids I definitely want them to have uncommon firsts and middles to make up for the uber common surname.
this is a really interested thread! thank you OP!
to stargazer that is a good point, my name is a common first and last name and i have no middle name. My email is pretty much a common nick name for my first with the _ sign and then my last name and earlier this year i got an email from someone with my EXACT same email address except ended in .co.uk instead of my countries letters and the email basically said “we have put your email adress instead of mine on all our wedding invites as RSVP so please if you start getting replies can you forward them to us?”. At first because the subject was ‘please help us dont ignore’ i thought oh gosh another person with a child with cancer who wants donations to scam me but im glad i read it! sure enough i got emails a lot of them chatty with perosnal details that i tried not to read (is difficult i must admit i’m naturally curious!) and forwarded them on to this lady she was so grateful and i’m glad i did it but woah!
tbh the internet is starting to scare me a little to the point where i’ve thought about deleting my facebook… i sent someone a PM once and under my message it had in lighter writing ‘sent from my suburb’ i was like omg seriously? i figured out how to disable it but it was also showing things i was googling on my page (i had just found out i was pregnant and not ready to tell everybody yet!) so quickly disabled that too and deleted anything it was stalking and then went psycho on all my privacy settings lol!
the sad thing is i love sharing and receiving photos of friends and family overseas and being able to connect in that way
Before I changed my name, I was the only person in the USA with that name. It made it very easy to track me. I didn’t like that. There is a down side to having “too unique” of a name.
That Spokeo thing amused me, it had incorrect data for me.
I think it’s only a problem if you put the information out there. I keep my information mostly secret and I stopped posting photos on Facebook. I share photos through shutterfly, which I feel is safer since you have to be a member to see photos and I have to approve of that person. So it prevents people I don’t know looking at my photos. Only photos I put on facebook are ones I wouldn’t mind being found or don’t think are a risk. With my future kids, I don’t plan to post pictures or share their full name anywhere at all until they are old enough to join facebook.
This is the reason I would NEVER post my name on here. I have a VERY unique first and middle name (my last name is not very common either). But actually, having a unique name prevents identity theft and confusion in terms of billing, etc.
There are 374 in the US with my name but I have a VERY common last name and a reasonably popular first name. I live in Australia so it doesn’t apply to me my dad has a very common name and knows someone with the same first middle and last name.
