What does it feel like to not have a unique name? Does it depress you?

Why would anyone be depressed by something so mundane & out of their control?
I have a really common (popular) name, another Wilson over here & well…it is what it is

My husband lost several thousand dollars he won in a car accident suit because his check got put in the mailbox of the guy next door, who had the same name (with only a different middle initial).

My name is very common in Ireland and I’m used to that. But when I go abroad some people of othe countries find it to be different or unusual.

My name is neither unique nor especially common. The only thing that “depressed” me when I was a kid was that my first name sounded to me—I can’t now fathom why—like the name of a short fat kid, neither of which I was. Apparently I’m the only one who thought that because as many people as I’ve asked over the years, not one agreed.

As if the real demons out there aren’t enough that we have to invent ones…

Very common first name here; one that is a euphemism for a toilet (no, it is not shithead) I live with it. I used my other name for a while when in HS but it too is common and being called by it did not change my personality.

My son, however, has an unusual name but one that sounds like a different, more common one. He got tired of correcting people. At first he just let it go and answered to the more common one, later he started using an abbreviated version of his name which actually worked for both. Problem solved.

Have you looked on Facebook? Almost everyone has someone with the same name. And unless you use your middle name in everyday life, you do too.

Shrug and move on. That’s what I did.

@Seek so did he get the money pack?

@Pachy…. you’re an elephant. Of course you’re fat!

I liked my maiden name better than either of my married names. It was simple, easy to spell and easy to pronounce.
My last name now has been the most difficult of all for other people.

My name turns out to be fairly common, despite my knowing of only one other instance before the internet made me able to search.

I was a bit surprised to realize the first instance of me in a Google search was about seven pages deep.

Funny same name story:

When i was 10, my family moved back to San Francisco. One Sunday at Church, my mom suggested I sign up for Catholic Youth Org.(CYO) day camp. Tuns out the monsignor in charge of the CYO for the Archdiocese had the same name and initial as me.

The ladies at the sign up table wanted to know if I was related. When I told this to my mom, she said, “you should have told them you are his son.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BWHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

There is a musician in L.A. with my name. I really don’t care.
My step-daughter recently had a daughter, and wanted her name to be unusual. Her husband wanted a name easily recognized and pronounced (his name is Jacek, which is pronounced Yat-zek). This created a minor conflict. They settled on calling the child Kaila, pronounced Ky-La.

Actually, @Dutchess_III, I didn’t start pachy-ing in pounds until much later in life. ;-)

I will ask my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl, or the three Ramesh Patels that I work with (in an office of only a few hundred to begin with).

I had a very unusual surname and hated it. I joined the legions of Smiths when I got married. I love not having to spell my name.

Ha ha! My son and his wife, and four kids, were at the park. There was another family there that had about twice as many kids! (That’s a lotta kids, man.) So all the kids were co-mingling, taking turns pushing the merry go round thing.
One of the older girls, of the other family, yelled, “Number 7! It’s your turn to push!” Number 7 pushed.

For work I have to look for people named in property records. Usually it’s good news – “You were connected to this property 15 years ago and somebody owes you money.”

If your name is Mister Mxyzptlk, no problem. Your check will be on the way soon.

The tough ones are people with names like Jose Gonzalez and Mary Murphy. There are thousands and thousands to sort through.

That’s funny @Dutchess_III. My granddaughter had a friend on her soccer team with a younger brother and younger still sister (she was about 4). The youngest called her older sister by name but always called her older brother “boy”. Her parents said she had always done so.

I have a rather unique name, not overly so, but my first name is not super common and my middle name is rather uncommon, but no, never crosses my mind. I would rather have a common name than something totally off the wall like Moon Unit or Apple or Muffin or an incredibly stupid, made up name, popular among some groups, like Shawanda or Taquito. lol

My first name is out of fashion, my middle name is rare in Canada, and my father made up our last name on arrival (and the original form is not common where he came from). There are people in the world with the same first and last name , but none anywhere nearby… I’ve never thought about it much, other than to wonder when I heard about people with the same last name.

I was glad my parents didn’t name me Susan as my public school classes were filled with them. We had four Susans in my grade 5 and 6 classes – out of a total of 23 students.

@Dutchess_III – nope. The check was addressed to Jason Mitchell and cashed by Jason Mitchell. Nothing could be done.

I would like it very much if my first name didn’t rhyme with piss.

My name is fairly unusual. I would rather have had a more common name.

I love taquitos. I’m just sayin’ here. Not that I would name my kid Taquito.

@CWOTUS We said we were going to name our first child Chisos Tinaja if it was a boy or Strawberry Pitahaya if a girl. Both sets of grandparents came unglued about them having to deal with the other kids in school.

We didn’t.

My name while not common in the USA, in several areas of Switzerland it is extremely common.

@rojo I played a joke on my ex, uber snooty, MIL when I was pregnant. I told her if the baby was a girl we were going to name her “Beulah Lou” and a boy ” Brook Trout” because my ex, her son, was into fly fishing. OMG….the look on her face was priceless. lol
My daughter is named “Emily.”

@CWOTUS LOL, I agree, taquitos are great but not for a kids name. I did have a hen named “Fajita” and her sister ” Picnic.” haha

My wife’s first name is a family name, Most people we have found to have the same first name are descendants of my wife’s great-grandmother. Like at a beach 30 years ago we heard her name and walked over to the lady that was being called and found out she had common relatives from Canada.

@Seek Yeah, but was he depressed? Stay on topic! ;-)

It makes me annoyed that there is a cartoon character named Zaku. I dread the day someone asks me if I am named after that.

@Zaku My daughter, who is almost 29, had to suffer through the references to the 1995 horror flick ” The exorcism of Emily Rose” her full name when she was 17. She did need an exorcism once or twice during her teen years no doubt. lol

@Coloma Wow! That’s quite some timing!

My son and his wife picked out the name Zoey for their youngest daughter before she was born. I wasn’t sure about that. But man, as she grew, you couldn’t find a more perfect name for that fire cracker!

I do have a unique name; a search indicates that the probability of someone in the U.S. with my name is less than one (a thought that I sometimes find comforting). But when I’m in the same room with three Lindas, three Kellys, two Erics, and three Scotts, nobody seems bothered about it, least of all them.

My husband gets a kick out the fact that his name is the same as a very rich, famous person, and he gets mistaken for that other guy.

My name is reasonably common, but not so much so that I had to grow up with other kids in the class that shared my name.

I was, like, a junior in high school, and there was another person with my name. She was a cheerleader and had a bunch of friends in the class so I heard my own name spoken by a bunch of people who were obviously not talking to me.

It about drove me to distraction. How do the “Johns” and “Saras” of the world take it?

On the first day of PE in 8th grade, we had to sit in a ring and tell the group our names, and I was seated next to two other girls. We all had the same name. It was awkward.

My name is not common at all, which I love. On the list of popular names (Social Security list and others), it’s growing in popularity but still, it’s pretty rare for adults. My last name is Hispanic. It’s not a popular last name, and many people pronounce it the more common way, which has an added letter in it. My whole life, people would mispronounce my last name because of the letter combination in it. However, now that there are more Hispanics in the US, more people are familiar with my last name and how to pronounce it.

For my daughter, I was looking at some uncommon names, like Fiona or Colette. Since my last name begins with an “A,” when I thought about the name Fiona my thoughts always went to Fiona Apple, and so in my mind, it became “Fiona Apple A_____.” I nixed that idea. For Colette, it was a close runner up. I also thought about Jennifer, because my first name begins with J, and so does my mom’s. When I was little, I liked that we were “J + J” – anyway, all these thoughts I had about what to name the baby. I ended up making her first name after my middle name, which is a fairly common name but it’s classic and I like that, too.

I heard that 50 years ago, every classroom had a Patricia in it. When my sister was little (20 years ago), Ashley was very popular. Then it became Morgan and Taylor for girls. We have friends with a daughter Teagen, which is cute.

To answer the question, I can’t imagine being upset or depressed over my name being common.

@jca I really want to know what your name is now…does it start with a J?

@jca. Is it Jocasta?

^^Jicama?

I like names beginning with J. It’s a good letter.

I got it!

Jezebel!

Right?

Jill

If @jca announces her name, I have a song to go with it (I know her real name).

I won’t say my name, but it’s the female lead in a Shakespearean play about a romantic couple.

Is it also in the title of the best Dire Straights song?

with the line “When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong ”?

@rojo beat me to it!