When there are a hundred different people with your name ...

[Aussie Willy]

Has anyone run into problems when you sign up for bank accounts (or other things) and there are heaps of people with the same name as you who are already customers?

I haven't had too many problems, and not that my name is a really common one even though I am not the only one. But it still takes time for the bank staff to go through and check to see if you may have had an account previously.

But if you were a John Smith for example it must be a real pain in the butt.

[essence_of_soy]

In the Actors Guild some time back, apparently you could only have one person with the same name. I don't know if that ruling has changed.

I seem to recall an actor from Melrose Place, Vanessa Williams, being confused with the singer / actor from Ugly Betty, who is actually listed as Vanessa J. Williams for official purposes.

[reckless]

In the Actors Guild some time back, apparently you could only have person with the same name. I don't know if that ruling has changed.

I seem to recall an actor from Melrose Place, Vanessa Williams, being confused with the singer / actor from Ugly Betty, who is actually listed as Vanessa J. Williams for official purposes.

That has long been the rule in SAG. A lot of actors get around it by using their middle initial or middle name. The funniest story about that rule that I ever heard was about Michael J. Fox. There already was a "Michael Fox" in SAG and his middle name is actually Andrew, but he did not want to be the subject of articles that played on "Michael A. Fox." So he registered for SAG using "J" as his middle initial.

[millipied]

I can't imagine any respectful bank verifying anyone based on name only. No matter how unique your name is you need at least 2 or 3 other corraborative pieces of information to verify one's identity, most certainly date of birth and zipcode are more important then your name these days.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

In the Actors Guild some time back, apparently you could only have person with the same name. I don't know if that ruling has changed.

I seem to recall an actor from Melrose Place, Vanessa Williams, being confused with the singer / actor from Ugly Betty, who is actually listed as Vanessa J. Williams for official purposes.

You still need a unique name for the unions in acting, thus Michael J. Fox as opposed to Michael Fox, Michael Keaton instead of Michael Douglas, David Walliams rather than David Williams, etc. All acting unions have this same rule. And it's just for your stage name - you don't need to change your legal name.

[oleada]

That's very odd to me. Both my given and last names are extremely common throughout the Spanish speaking world, and I've never run into this issue. You would think a bank would use a sort of unique ID number, like a social security number, instead of a name.

[skategal]

Has anyone run into problems when you sign up for bank accounts (or other things) and there are heaps of people with the same name as you who are already customers?

Sort of. I have the same name as an oil and gas executive to lives in the same city as me and banks at the same institution as DH and me.

DH almost always does all the banking for us, certainly all the in-person visits at the bank are done by him and I tell him to bring the papers home for me to sign (because I have ZERO interest in banking and DH works in Finance.)

One day DH went to the bank to pick up some paperwork and the staff gushed all over him saying "Oh hello, welcome. You are 'my name's' husband. We don't see you very often. Your wife does most of your banking, right?"

DH was like...."Uhhhhh, no, I'm here all the time."

And then he realized what was happening...

[Jot the Dot Dot]

"John Smith" never had it as difficult as this gent: http://www.koreanbeacon.com/2009/07/...e-was-john-doe

[JumpinBug]

I'm the only me that I've found online... it's good and bad... very easy for anyone to google me, but nice to be unique.

[BaileyCatts]

I have an unusual name and almost wish my name was like Susie Smith or something so I WOULD be hard to find and google about. The problem is, as unusal as my name is, there is another woman with my exact same name .... who posts on websites for witches and pagens! I hope people don't think that is me!

[Aussie Willy]

I have an unusual name and almost wish my name was like Susie Smith or something so I WOULD be hard to find and google about. The problem is, as unusal as my name is, there is another woman with my exact same name .... who posts on websites for witches and pagens! I hope people don't think that is me!

[ArtisticFan]

I ran into the problem in high school though I never expected to since I have such an ethnic name. The girl was one year behind me and had a habit of skipping class. Our middle names were different with her's starting with a T and mine with an S. So when the attendance office would mark one of us absent, it was usually me. My parents received quite a few phone calls claiming I was not in school that day.

[Skittl1321]

I used to have a very unique last name, and now I have a more common one. I have a very common first name.

I have never run into any trouble with bank accounts or credit cards, because they all use a unique indentifer like Social Security number or even "member number".

I did notice that my graduate school email account is first initial.lastname4 so I assume I'm the 4th one with this address- it's a tiny school so that surprised me.

I'm still a little sad I lost my unique name, and I've been married 6 years- he should have changed his name!

[milanessa]

I'm still a little sad I lost my unique name, and I've been married 6 years- he should have changed his name!

Why did you change it?

[Jenny]

Why did you change it?

Exactly.

When I was in first grade there was another kid with the same first name, but her last name was further down the alphabetical list. Without fail, every morning when the teacher took attendance, she'd say "here" when it was my turn. OK, she was only 6, but if I figured it out I think she should have too and really the teacher should have used our last initials - I'm talkin' to YOU Miss McCready!

[Skittl1321]

I actually didn't change it until we had been married for 2 years, but it's difficult to function as a married couple when you have 2 last names.

On our honeymoon, United checked our bags under his name only, and then when he got sick and couldn't deal with them after they lost our luggage, they refused to deal with me because my name wasn't on the luggage claim. Never mind that it was on the tickets booked together, nor could they answer why their gate agent checked luggage under only his name, when it was made clear we each had 1 bag.

We also had problems with banks, gym memberships, lots of silly things.

It's traditional to take your husband's last name, and while he never really pressed that I did it, I knew it was kind of important to him. I'm glad to have his last name, because I'm glad to have him. I just liked my name better. His is boring. And it's a super simple, easy to spell last name, but it sounds just like another name, so people STILL mispell it. At least my old last name always got misspelled because it was confusing.

[Skittl1321]

Exactly.

When I was in first grade there was another kid with the same first name, but her last name was further down the alphabetical list. Without fail, every morning when the teacher took attendance, she'd say "here" when it was my turn. OK, she was only 6, but if I figured it out I think she should have too and really the teacher should have used our last initials - I'm talkin' to YOU Miss McCready!

OOH! This reminds me of middle school cheerleading tryouts. The principal was reading names of the list "randomly" so we wouldn't know who got the most votes. He said "Jessica" and I knew he meant the other Jessica, because she was much more popular. Five names later he called Jessica, I stood up, and he looked at me, then at her, and said "oh, nope- I called that one already". I had to sit down, I didn't make it. He didn't even say sorry!!! Ass. That's crushing to an unpopular 7th grader. There were multiple Jessica's, Jennifer's and Kristen (Kristin)'s- why would he not use last names?

If that happened today, I could probably sue my way onto the team

[ArtisticFan]

I actually didn't change it until we had been married for 2 years, but it's difficult to function as a married couple when you have 2 last names.

I still haven't changed mine and have no plan to do so. I am the last member of my family to have this name so I don't want to give it up for that reason along with others.

It has been tricky at times, but we have put up with them so far. Thankfully we don't have children so that isn't an issue.

[smurfy]

I have a common first and last name. Banks - no issue. But I have had issues, lost an appointment at the hairdresser. They called to confirm, but the other girl, and she said I dont' have an appt, then I show up. Also one of my eye doctors had a patient with my name. so always clarified with birthdate. Where I work now, a girl has an almost same name, and we get each others emails (Susan and Susanne, same last name). I have met/or seen someone with the same first/last name as everyone in my family.
Just amusing. I use my middle initial a lot.
On Facebook, some friends said they can not find me, to many with the same name. Also I have received invites by people looking for my name, but not me.
Again, just go with the flow.

[MacMadame]

I actually didn't change it until we had been married for 2 years, but it's difficult to function as a married couple when you have 2 last names.

I've been married for 23.5 years and haven't had any difficulty with keeping my own name.