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(Partially from a comment elsewhere)
My dad grew up with unusual first and middle names, and he says he "wouldn't do that to a dog." So all three kids have names as plain as can be. I know multiple other Carol Jean Smiths.
When I arrived at MIT and was introducing myself around French House, in the hopes I could take up residence there, I got the response "Your middle name is Jean, right?" This boggled me, because it was and I hadn't said so. It seems CarolYN Jean Smith lived just downstairs. My sophomore year, my phone number was removed from the student directory as an "obvious duplication." I think it was also that year that CarolYN graduated, after untangling some kind of paperwork snafu with her "phase two writing requirement".
My senior year, I phoned up to ask whether any of the upper-division electrical engineering or computer science classes I'd taken had checked off my "phase two writing requirement", and I was informed that I had completed it in my sophomore year with some kind of paper on blood clotting. Suddenly I knew what had happened to CarolYN. I said "thank you" and hung up.
Even the Army sometimes couldn't figure it out, and they're pretty good at creating systems that will work no matter who's using them. A grizzled sergeant showed up, in a room of twenty or thirty people, asking for "Smith". We asked which one. He got annoyed, looked at his paperwork, and said "C. Smith." Cindy and I asked which one. He was seriously peeved by then. How do you make sergeant without knowing Smith is a common name?
If I go into some kind of business establishment and a clerkly type asks for my last name, I know not to bother going back. They're too stupid to earn my business.
It's kind of nifty being hard to Google. Photographs of a woman in a compromising position? Why no, that's not me. Nor am I the machinery shop, the music studio, the nineteenth century portrait artist, or the Illinois fishing resort. I wonder what happened to the basketball player. He used to be on the first page of Google hits too, but I didn't find him this time.
My dad grew up with unusual first and middle names, and he says he "wouldn't do that to a dog." So all three kids have names as plain as can be. I know multiple other Carol Jean Smiths.
When I arrived at MIT and was introducing myself around French House, in the hopes I could take up residence there, I got the response "Your middle name is Jean, right?" This boggled me, because it was and I hadn't said so. It seems CarolYN Jean Smith lived just downstairs. My sophomore year, my phone number was removed from the student directory as an "obvious duplication." I think it was also that year that CarolYN graduated, after untangling some kind of paperwork snafu with her "phase two writing requirement".
My senior year, I phoned up to ask whether any of the upper-division electrical engineering or computer science classes I'd taken had checked off my "phase two writing requirement", and I was informed that I had completed it in my sophomore year with some kind of paper on blood clotting. Suddenly I knew what had happened to CarolYN. I said "thank you" and hung up.
Even the Army sometimes couldn't figure it out, and they're pretty good at creating systems that will work no matter who's using them. A grizzled sergeant showed up, in a room of twenty or thirty people, asking for "Smith". We asked which one. He got annoyed, looked at his paperwork, and said "C. Smith." Cindy and I asked which one. He was seriously peeved by then. How do you make sergeant without knowing Smith is a common name?
If I go into some kind of business establishment and a clerkly type asks for my last name, I know not to bother going back. They're too stupid to earn my business.
It's kind of nifty being hard to Google. Photographs of a woman in a compromising position? Why no, that's not me. Nor am I the machinery shop, the music studio, the nineteenth century portrait artist, or the Illinois fishing resort. I wonder what happened to the basketball player. He used to be on the first page of Google hits too, but I didn't find him this time.
no subject
People mess up names no matter what you do, I think. Brian Jay should be the easiest name in the world. Short, easy to spell, impossible to mispronounce. Perfect. Except that I have the following conversation easily 90% of the time I tell somebody my name:
Clerk: Could I have your name, please?
Me: Brian Jay
Clerk: *silence*
Me: *silence*
Clerk: *silence*
Me: J-A-Y
Clerk: Thank you.
Without fail, everybody always thinks I am starting to spell my name and they just wait. Every time. For my entire life. This post notwithstanding, I deeply envy your name for being short and easy to spell and clearly a name. :)
Hmm, what do I have to search on to find this woman in the compromising position. Sounds promising. ;)
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Thus, I pretty much default to giving my name as "First name is Brooks, last name is Moses, M-O-S-E-S." That might work for you, too....
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