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.
  • mr_sparkle@lemmy.world
    1641·
    1 年前

    I went through something similar.

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

  • blackluster117@possumpat.ioEnglish
    912·
    1 年前

    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.

  • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
    42·
    1 年前

    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
      201·
      1 年前

      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·
        1 年前

        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.

    • Monzcarro@feddit.uk
      3·
      1 年前

      I have something similar! Mine is a playwright, so not on most people’s radar, unless they Google my name. It’s great.

    • The_v@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 年前

      I share a name with and average skilled hockey player who played for long time on mediocre teams. We are also the same age.

      Although my name is uncommon it is not rare. So many other lawyers, insurance sales, etc who have a larger online presence mask me very effectively.

      It’s enough that googling my name is a waste of time.

      It also helps that I have a small footprint online with no social media accounts linked back to my real name.

  • vettnerk@lemmy.ml
    34·
    1 年前

    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.

  • Perhyte@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    1 年前

    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.

    • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 年前

      I do this when time travel comes up, but more because I get tired of explaining the block universe theory and no one likes a guy that tries to convince them that they don’t have Free Will.

  • iamhangry@programming.dev
    24·
    1 年前

    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 doppelgänger made, I had no answer and just said “ah…” and after some awkward silence he gave me back my essay.

  • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    22·
    1 年前

    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·
    1 年前

    My tattoo guy shares a name with a very famous author and theres a sign outside his station that says “No not the author and if you ask you will be charged extra”

  • Pregnenolone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    1 年前

    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·
      1 年前

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

  • wuphysics87@lemmy.ml
    181·
    1 年前

    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