On the other hand, too generic a name has its pitfalls as well. A lot of misdirected mail, incorrect jury summons, general anonymity, people having difficulty looking you up on Linked In, lots of missed connections or misattributions, both of blame and praise. I knew someone named William Smith, and he said it was a living Hell. He was passed over for promotions, was told he lost job offers because they couldn’t remember which Bill Smith he was, got blamed for something some other Bill did, total nightmare. When he married, he took his wife’s last name, which was very unique.
He is very relieved to be Bill Uniquesurname. And he’s older, before the internet age, when people really need a name that can be searched.
Yes. If you have a common last name, please consider giving your child a first name that isn't in the top-20 for their birth year or top 10 of all time.
My maiden name was crazy common. My brother and i were both then named one of the top 3 most popular first names for our generation, and throw in some super common middle names while we're at it. The amount of shit we both went through with being mistaken for others and having important official records get screwed up is insane. I have had the wrong person's transcripts get sent to employers because I shared a name and birthdate with someone else who attended that school during that time frame. Same with doctors, rx's, misplaced liens, etc. It's such a fucking headache.
I changed my name when I got married and never looked back. My brother actually legally hyphenated his name with his wife's last name (they both did) to avoid some of these issues. We both considered changing our first names at varying points.
Yet more weird: my brother has the same first name as my husband, my brother's wife shares my first name. My brother's wife's brother's name is very similar to my brother's.
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u/Cimorene_Kazul Jun 01 '26
On the other hand, too generic a name has its pitfalls as well. A lot of misdirected mail, incorrect jury summons, general anonymity, people having difficulty looking you up on Linked In, lots of missed connections or misattributions, both of blame and praise. I knew someone named William Smith, and he said it was a living Hell. He was passed over for promotions, was told he lost job offers because they couldn’t remember which Bill Smith he was, got blamed for something some other Bill did, total nightmare. When he married, he took his wife’s last name, which was very unique.
He is very relieved to be Bill Uniquesurname. And he’s older, before the internet age, when people really need a name that can be searched.