this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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I share a name with a very famous professional athlete. I don't even think about it usually but as soon as I have to give my name to someone I can pretty much count on some remark about the athlete by the same name.

I've dealt with this in many ways over the years but my most recent method is to pretend to have never heard of that famous person by the same name. That makes the conversation awkward and they usually move on.

Also, if you meet someone who shares a name with a celebrity, keep these things in mind:

  • There is nothing you can say about it that is funny or clever. We have heard it all before. Just don't.
  • If you do have something to say about it that is truly original and absolutely hilarious, see the previous rule.
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[–] mr_sparkle@lemmy.world 162 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I went through something similar.

I realized that a Japanese dishwashing powder company is using my face as its logo.

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 55 points 1 year ago

Mr sparkle!

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

Well there's your answer, fishbulb.

[–] vodkasolution@feddit.it 9 points 1 year ago

We need more!

[–] blackluster117@possumpat.io 88 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Easy, just write a program that takes the fractions of a cent that are rounded off during bank transactions and deposits them in an account you control. It's foolproof.

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago

It's the plot for Superman 3.

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why should I change it, he's the one who sucks.

[–] wieson@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Calm down, Adolf.

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Not exactly a famous person, but I have a somewhat unusual name that happens to be exactly the same as a fairly prolific music executive in my country.

It's kind of a win-win, because it's not someone most people have heard of so I don't get the remarks, but also I'm basically un-Googleable lol

[–] Caboose12000@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

being un-googleable is seriously underrated. if I ever had kids I'd give them the most common names possible for exactly that reason. Sure it can be annoying when you're the 8th John in your class but that's a lot easier to get used to than the amount of bullying and harassment you could get for having a really uncommon name, especially if it's a silly name or shared name with garbage famous person

[–] blivet@artemis.camp 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I have an extremely unusual name. From what I can tell there are at most three other people in the world with the same name as me, and none of them lives here in the US.

Leaving aside the fun of being hassled for having a weird name when I was a kid, as an adult I am very careful about what I put online, since there is no way to hide it. If it’s in English and connected with my name, it unquestionably concerns me.

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[–] vettnerk@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Back in April a bunch of us from work went over to Singapore to rig up backdeck equipment to mobilize this ship ready for work. Upon meeting the captain of the ship we had chartered for the operation, we learned that his last name was Kirk.

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[–] Perhyte@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My family shares a fairly uncommon surname with a professional athlete we are (as far as we can tell) completely unrelated to.

My father always joked that we should answer "we don't discuss that" when asked about it, as if there had been some huge falling-out.

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I have an uncle called Chris Hemsworth. He's like 65 so I don't know if he even knows the connection.

[–] iamhangry@programming.dev 23 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I have two middle names, and they are exactly the same names from a porn star turned politician in my country. Plenty of jokes about it.

The weirdest moment was when a teacher was correcting one of my essays and asked about the origin of my name, after I explained, he mentioned that he liked one of the movies that my name doppelgΓ€nger made, I had no answer and just said β€œah…” and after some awkward silence he gave me back my essay.

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[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 22 points 1 year ago

I have the same name as a barely famous YouTuber, not famous enough for people to know the name in real life. The only thing that happens is that I occasionally get emails meant for him. I do own the name's website, so I'm hoping he gets really famous and tries to buy it off of me for a lot of money.

[–] DagonPie@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My tattoo guy shares a name with a very famous author and theres a sign outside his station that says β€œNo not the author and if you ask you will be charged extra”

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[–] donescobar@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Everyone thinks I sell coke and have tons of money

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[–] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My Dad has the same name as a reasonably famous sports star in a different country. Unfortunately for me when I Google my name it’s just associated with rapists in the US… 😭

[–] erusuoyera@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago

Let me guess...Your dad shares a name with hockey star Jack Draper, and he named you Chile after his favourite Jimi Hendrix song?

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (8 children)

What's really fun is looking like a celebrity. Dear old Dad looks like a very well known actor, possibly one who is famous for driving a silver Dodge truck in a cop propoganda TV show and being talked about in Barrens chat.

I've managed to avoid being confused for the same person by having long hair. Now I look like Jesus.

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[–] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a student named Serena Williams. I asked her the first day if other professors make light of it. She said yes dejectedly and I promised her I wouldn't. I've kept my word so far

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[–] kilodelta@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I love that my online presence is practically invisible because of the celeb with the same name.

I did get a really spicy email from one of their fans once.

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[–] MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It's terrible. I'm the one who have to deal with the consequences every time that woman makes a bad decision.

She is a great actress though.

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[–] ImADifferentBird@midwest.social 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I share a name with someone who is obscure enough to not come up in many conversations, but famous enough that he monopolizes the Google results for my name.

I quite enjoy the relative anonymity.

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[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I met a very nice older Scotsman named William Wallace the other day. He told me at our hotel bar that he had a court date the next day for allegedly beating an Englishman with his cane, who had apparently insulted his wife. Not quite sure how he handles questions about his name, but he certainly seems to have some things in common with his famous namesake.

[–] Adalast@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I once knew a girl who shared a birth name with a porn star's porn name. She dealt by telling people to never google her unless they wanted a virus.

[–] iByteABit@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

The jokes used to annoy me when I was younger, but now I appreciate the ice breaker they provide and just do a fake laugh and move on

[–] asexualchangeling@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I share a name with a fictional character (and some real famous people but no one ever commented about those)

When I was younger it used to be annoying becouse other kids would make jokes, but as I got older they stopped and I started introducing myself with some jokes of my own (that were a bit more creative than theirs if I do say so myself)

"Yes, my name is Scooby Doo, no I don't want your snacks"

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[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My name is Luke. I cant tell you the amount of Star Wars comments I get. Eventually you just stop caring. I'm also a twin which gets a similar amount of stupid questions about being phychic and stuff.

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[–] Patron_of_Nohbdy@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I share a first name with a mythological deity, so introductory conversations usually start with "Oh, like the god/goddess of...", but I don't mind it too much because I happen to really enjoy mythology in general. It's a great icebreaker most of the time and only annoying when someone frames it as "Did you know?" Like, even if it wasn't one of those dieties most of us learn about in middle or high school history class, do you think you're the first person to explain this to me in the last 30+ years of my life?

The thing that really bothers me is people have this strange inclination to sing my name at me after they learn it. It's been used in a good handful of songs and is even the title for one by a famous 60s/70s band. The weird thing is some people aren't even referencing one of those songs. They just make up their own little tune.

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[–] Trollivier@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I share a name with a professional hockey player that's not too known, but kinda known in my province.

When I search my name in Google, I'm not in the first page. That's about it. Most people don't know that player anyway.

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[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Being glad that the person in question is so absolutely off-the-walls crazy that it actually drowns out anyone Googling for me.

They're a right-wing conservative crank who is absolutely referenced everywhere and whines constantly, he's part of a right-wing media organization.

This guy is everywhere, and it makes it kind easier to be more pseudo-anonymous, because the internet will filter for this guy before it filters for me.

[–] SBJ@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

That right there is about the only good part of sharing a name with a celebrity. You absolutely cannot Google me. I am a ghost online. No Facebook or any non-anonymous social media. Even if you search for my name + my city you'll get results about this athlete because he has made numerous appearances here

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