People with the same name! [Archive]

RosieTR

12-26-11, 7:22pm

Confusingly my DH, my recent former boss and my soon-to-be-boss all have the same first name! When it was just boss vs DH it was usually easy to tell but now it's getting confusing, and none likes to be called Mr/Dr so and so. I think I'm going to have to come up with nicknames or something. Of course it isn't anything major but I am curious, does this happen to anyone else?

Miss Cellane

12-26-11, 9:23pm

I once worked at a small company with 25 employees. Four other women had the same first name as me. The owner even had the same initials!

I went by my last name, one woman used her middle name, another used both her first and middle names and one became "Accounting Sue" and the other one "Part-time Sue." The owner got to use her name the way she wanted.

Simpler at Fifty

12-26-11, 9:58pm

My DH, his BF and our neighbor share the same first name. DH and his friend refer to each other as Sam of the north and Sam of the south.
Our neighbor goes by Pat. I call DH Fred sometimes when he is not paying attention. He always answers to Fred for some reason.

iris lily

12-26-11, 10:23pm

We had a lot of friends named Jeff for a while, quite a lot, and unless we used surnames, it was confusing. Last night I was at a party where 50% of the men were named David.

We had two sets of couples in our wider social circle named Bill and Kevin and the two couples lived one block apart. We used to qualify conversations with "Bill-and-Kevin-on-Hickory" to distinguish that couple who lived on Hickory. Then Bill-and-Kevin-on-Hickory married John and they became
"Bill/Kevin/John" so they were no longer confused with Bill and Kevin on Rutger Street.

Tradd

12-26-11, 10:28pm

I have a not that common first name. More popular in the 60s. I was the first, and one of four at my company, until one quit yesterday. Name begins with M. One girl in my department with the initials MA, I call "Ma." She answers to it. The accounting girl who just left had a last name beginning with M, so I called her M &M. Then there was the HR manager...

The best is when people would mean to send vacation requests to HR managers, but chose my email in error (same first name). I would always say no to the time off requests and people would get peeved, before they realized they had emailed the wrong person. I had such fun with that! ;)

fidgiegirl

12-27-11, 12:04am

Right now it's the name Dawn in our lives. My coworker, DH's school secretary and DH's sister all have the name. We have had to resort to using full names. :)

frugalone

12-27-11, 12:48am

Kestrel

12-27-11, 9:24am

grendel

12-27-11, 10:57am

I have worked for the same company for twenty four years. I've known some of our patients the entire time. For a brief period, I had a coworker with the same name. Some of our patients STILL refer to me as my first and last name, even if they are just saying good morning, even if we are the only ones in the room, even if they are just passing me in the hallway. Since we talk about celebrities the same way, I feel like a celebrity! As in, "Good morning, Michael Jackson!"

goldensmom

12-27-11, 11:08am

How about the same first AND last name? I have 5 Jim cousins all with the same last name. At family events they would be differnetiated by 'Dave's Jim, Steve's Jim, Jim's Jim etc'. Now with a third generation we've started 'Jim's Jim's Jim'. We've had a lot of confusing family conversations over the years.

treehugger

12-27-11, 11:25am

I have always liked that my name is somewhat unusual. I have never worked with anyone named Kara and only went to school briefly (for like, 2 months, in highschool) with another Kara.

My whole married name (first name + last name) is actually unique (according to Google), and my whole maiden name was too, which is pretty cool.

I have two men named "Dad" in my life, which is never confusing to me, but does sometimes confuse people I am talking about one or the other dad to.

We have 7 Johns in our office of ~90 people. Most get called by their last names.

My husband's name is Joe, which of course sounds like a common name, but he has run into very few Joes in his life.

Kara

goldensmom

12-27-11, 12:06pm

My husband's name is Joe, which of course sounds like a common name, but he has run into very few Joes in his life.

Kara

I know a dozen 'Joe' Yoders who live within a few miles of each other. Calling out to Joe in a local store can get the attention of several individuals. Interesting naming patterns within families/groups (including my own family).

Kathy WI

12-27-11, 1:45pm

My brother and my husband are both named Tim. Sometimes we refer to them as Big Tim (bro) and Little Tim (husband).

RosieTR

12-28-11, 5:35pm

I just read an awful story in the paper about someone who had a background check. She had a common name like "Kathleen Kelley." The check turned up someone w/the same name that said she was a felon, and the woman didn't get hired for the job (that was the purpose for the background check). It was a sad tale.

I was worried about that because DH has a cousin with the same first name who was living in the same town. She married shortly before we did and changed her name and I kept my maiden name. Otherwise there would have been two people with the same name in the same town (of about 60,000). Since she has lost a home to foreclosure and had some legal problems, I would definitely have worried about getting confused with her both for credit and for job stuff!

RosieTR

12-28-11, 5:36pm

I have always liked that my name is somewhat unusual. I have never worked with anyone named Kara and only went to school briefly (for like, 2 months, in highschool) with another Kara.

My whole married name (first name + last name) is actually unique (according to Google), and my whole maiden name was too, which is pretty cool.
Kara

I'll have to check but I'm pretty sure my niece will be like that. Their last name is really uncommon and my sister and BIL gave her an unusual first name, too so I be the whole thing is unique.

pony mom

12-29-11, 10:34pm

I once worked in a department with 2 other Nancys besides myself. My first job was with a woman named Nancy. At first we were Big Nancy and Little Nancy--Big Nancy was a bit heavy and didn't like that, so I was Little Nancy and she was just Nancy.

At the Vitamin Shoppe, I forgot my member card and they asked for my name. Turns out, there's another Nancy S****, which surprised me. My last name is a bit unusual (it's Hungarian, but with an Americanized spelling to make it easier to pronounce). This other Nancy lives in another state, yet they asked for my address.

Zoe Girl

12-30-11, 10:43pm

Many years ago our office had three employees, all with the same name. We were "Ann" (me, since I'd been there the longest), "Ann Marie" (her actual name), and "Ann Honey" (the boss's wife). We had a lot of fun with that.

I am not really Zoe but an Anne (Marie). At one of my schools there was me, a homework helper named Annie and another person named Ann Marie who goes by Anna. The kids called everyone Miss Anne! So then Anna got moved to another school so it is easier, whew.

I could never figure out why the people at the bank called me Miss Anne, they didn't know I worked with kids so everyone calls me Miss Anne other places. Well then someone asked about my last name which is very unique. Maybe 100 people in the US have it and I can always tell a sales call because they canNOT pronounce it. So they are calling me Miss Anne so they don't have to butcher my last name!

Spartana

1-3-12, 3:33pm

I've only met one other person with my same first name IRL (although when I google my name I see that there are other's out there). It was a guy (i'm female) who was a police officer and we had a criminal justice class together. Prof. would always get confused who was who :-)!

Float On

1-3-12, 4:15pm

CathyA

1-3-12, 4:37pm

I think its funny when some child in the store yells "Mom!"......and all the women look up.

iris lily

1-3-12, 8:36pm

I dated 5 different Davids. The boys get a kick out of that since they have no peers named David. My husband hates when people shorten his name. He is Kenneth or Kenny never ever Ken yet everyone tries to call him Ken.

There were a bunch of Larrys for me. The last Larry was adorable, but the first few were pretty awful.

treehugger

1-4-12, 12:11pm

My husband hates when people shorten his name. He is Kenneth or Kenny never ever Ken yet everyone tries to call him Ken.

I think it's kinda rude to shorten or change someone's name without asking their preference. I have always liked that my name can't really be shortened.

Kara

Spartana

1-4-12, 2:00pm

I have always liked that my name can't really be shortened.

Kara

Hey Kar...hope you're having a great day ;-)!

treehugger

1-4-12, 2:39pm

Hey Kar...hope you're having a great day ;-)!

Yeah, I know it's technically possible, but no one ever does it. People do, however, mispronounce my name all the time (it rhymes with Sarah). Can't win 'em all.

Kara

Stella

1-5-12, 10:14pm

My given name is Stephanie and my dad's name is Steven. For a while when I was little I was called Stevie, which was confusing as I lived with a Steve. That is where Stella came in. My sister started calling me Stella because it was not as confusing. Why she didn't just go with Stephanie I am not sure.

My little sister was named Sarah Smith. OMG there are a lot of Sarah Smiths in this world. She is no longer named Sarah or Smith. :)

I had an uncle named Steve who was married to my dad (Steve's) sister. My cousin who is about 10 years younger than me used to be sooooo irritated when I would call her dad Uncle Steve because, clearly, my dad was Uncle Steve and her dad was Dad. No amount of explaining made her see reason. It was cute, actually.