Alter Egos

Every now and then I google myself to see what pops up.  One thing that is reinforced every time is that, on anything I want to be easily linked to myself, I need to include the middle initial.  There are a lot of people out there with the same first and last names; a huge percentage in the UK.  What is entertaining, however, is that there is not a lot of deviation in the sorts of professions we choose.

After going through the first ten google pages, these are the themes:  environment, writing, PR work, medicine, medical research, athletics and yoga. 

Nice to know that I'm living up to my demographic profile.

Comments

[Harrison]

One time I googled my name and found my death certificate. Well, actually, my grandfather's, but the same name and all. Quite a shock.

[Phantom Scribbler]

My name is also very common. I note with some dismay that there are at least two iterations of me with more impressive publishing histories. Oy!

[Laura (geekymom)]

I love seeing the other "me's" out there. Quite a few are dead, but it's nice to see a few that are much younger. The Others carry on!

[Scrivener]

I've only looked my name up once or twice--I think there's someone with my name, spelled the same way and everything, at MIT (or he was there at least). I kind of assume that he's the reason every version of my name I can think of is always claimed on email and other such services.

[wolfangel]

If you look up my name you find . . . me. For, like, 2 pages. Or you did, last time I googled myself. Oddly, all my pages also share my interests! :>

[oliviacw]

There's a man with my last name and the masculine version of my first name, who is quite famous in a sub-area of my field for a theory he first proposed when I was 7! Fortunately, I'm in another sub-area, but I do often get asked if there is any relationship. (Sometimes I can't help but wonder if claiming one would help....)

[yami]

My name isn't very common - lots of genealogy sites, a Mexican professor of German, and a woman who wants to adopt another kid. And a surprising number of pages about stuff I did in high school.

[musey_me]

Huh - I just tried this and found - ME! (Not surprising as my first and last name are reasonably uncommon). On the 8th Google page, there were lots of other people showing up because they split first and last name. The funniest thing I saw was a review of a journal that included an article by me done by a student where I went to grad school and the person referred to me as "he" - I suspect the faculty member was amused by that (since he was on my program committee).

[Psycho Kitty]

That's so odd! But now you mention it, if I do the same, the primary person who shows up is some actress, and I did study theatre in university, so...My alter ego?
I have a similar experience when I try to research my family tree. My paternal grandfather's side of the family is from Georgia, and it's been nearly impossible to find anything from before the Civil War. My great-grandfather, who was a doctor, has a "family" name, but Googling it is a disaster. He delivered a lot of babies, and people often named their sons after him. So there are a zillion southerners running around out there with my great-grandfather's name as their first/middle names. It's sort of funny to see.

[jo(e)]

I am the only one of my kind. So when I google myself, everything that shows up is mine.

I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

[Rana]

I love hearing all these stories. :)

I do get a bunch of dead people showing up, too -- which isn't that surprising, given that my last name is very common and the first one used to be pretty common too.

[Jane Dark]

I have the dubious honor of having the same name as the main character in a romantic comedy from a year or so ago...ironically, said character (though flatly developed) is a super-serious student with no time for romance.

The other me is, oddly enough, a professional oboeist and music professor. I was supposed to be a professional pianist, but wanted to play the oboe (terrible embouchure, unfortunately). All in all, the coincidences are almost creepy.

[Scone]

Ditto here. The other "me" is a freelance writer and a "big beautiful woman"; close enough. I'm hoping that my ex-husband will stalk her instead of me or the teenage honors student. The first few Google entries are really me, though, and that makes me smile.

[Phantom Scribbler]

Jane Dark, are you named for The Saskiad?

[timna]

so far, I'm the only me. very American first name with very Israeli last name.
jo(e), I think this uniqueness is a good thing.

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

Wow, I'm all over the map! (Hadn't checked in a while - this was fun.) I work in historic preservation, real estate, nursing, and genetic counseling. Plus I'm a soccer star and I play a mean saxophone!

[Jane Dark]

Phantom Scribbler,

No -- and of course, JD isn't my real name. I've heard of The Saskiad lately...and other people have pointed out that JD can also be a modern version of Jeanne d'Arc -- but when I came up with it, I needed a moniker that was as generic as possible - but my vanity wanted catchy -- so it was to be like Jane Doe, only darker...heh.

Should I read The Saskiad?

[Phantom Scribbler]

Jane Dark, I really enjoyed The Saskiad. Don't think I've ever run into anyone else who's read it, though. But of course, I don't get out much.

Jane Dark is the pseudonym the main character takes late in the book.

[Amanda]

I have a common first name and a common last name, so there are plenty of name-doppelgangers out there; oddly, many of them seem to be high school athletes or music teachers (and dead people). Now that my grad-school-era home page has vanished into the ether, the "real" me doesn't show up until several pages into the Google results.

And, apparently, one of my doppelgangers is the girl Kenneth Branagh had a crush on in elementary school. How's that for randomness?