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I have a relatively rare name — I’ve actually never met anyone with my last name, never mind someone with my full name — and this happens to me regularly. Last
by zukzuk 11mo ago
I have a relatively rare name — I’ve actually never met anyone with my last name, never mind someone with my full name — and this happens to me regularly. Last week I got a job rejection from New Zealand post, for a while I was getting someone’s pay stub notifications from the US, etc.
I suspect it’s because I was the first to register the first.last@gmail.com address for my name. I guess it’s a bit like owning a simple noun .com domain.
- donohoe 11mo agoI use my lastname [at] gmail (same as my HN username). Over the years, I’ve received all sorts of misdirected messages: medical, financial, support, even real estate documents. When it seems important, I do my best to contact the sender and let them know. What I’ve learned is that “no-reply” email addresses can cause real harm in situations where it’s critical to reach an actual person.
- unangst 11mo agoSame boat. Obscure last name humans unite!
- abustamam 11mo agoMy dad's first name is my last name so my last name @gmail is taken by him :) But I have a relatively rare first name and even rarer last name due to my dad having a very rare first name, so I easily snagged first.last. Pretty sure to this day I've never even seen anyone with my dad's first name (or my last name). Meanwhile, my coworkers name is literally Adam Smith and his usernames tend to be adamsmith2 or 3 or 4. I once worked at a place that has two Brian Smiths who worked at desks across from each other. That was quite bizarre.
- tracker1 11mo agoI've worked in a few groups over the years with several other "Michael"... It's not fun when you get 4 in a group (dev/mgt teams) of like 15.
- ben_w 11mo agoOne place I worked, we had one guy with the same personal and family names of the (then) Director General of the BBC… working on a project with another guy who also shared both. I am not the horror film director I share a name with.
- jspash 11mo agoI have lastname.firstname@gmail.com because first.last was already taken. Just curious, do gmail accounts ever expire? Will I ever get the chance to snag the other one? Or does it forever belong to my nemesis and life-long enemy?
- eth0up 11mo agoUnused they have a half-life. Google Voice numbers much more aggressively so. It's somewhere in the document.
- roywiggins 11mo agoAfter two years of inactivity: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/12418290?hl=en https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/12418290?hl=en
- krainboltgreene 11mo agoThis answer is not actually correct. I have an account I deleted 18 years ago, still can’t make it again.
- amarant 11mo agoCould in theory be because someone else grabbed the account 16 years ago tho, unless I'm missing something?
- tech234a 11mo agoNo Google does not allow creating a new account with a previously-used Gmail address. Each Gmail address can be used at most once.
- krainboltgreene 11mo agoI emailed the address to make sure: It bounce due to not existing.
- zaptheimpaler 11mo ago
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- fn-mote 11mo ago> Over the years, I’ve received all sorts of misdirected messages […] Looking at my text messages, surely these are a mix of serious business and the starts of scams. How unsavory to think that helping someone could be a bad thing.
- multjoy 11mo agoOne of my gmail doppelgängers has started trading crypto and I am deeply concerned for them.
- animal531 11mo agoI think mine is worse off. He keeps being signed up for Facebook notifications on whatever activity he's doing.
- astrange 11mo agoI get a ton of email to my gmail address for other people with similar names. One of them was a director at Google, but I think she retired. Always assumed that meant I'd get a lame work email if I applied there.
- tracker1 11mo agoAbsolutely... I've had the same issue (nickname is gmail name), and constantly amazed how many people don't "get" that you can't just claim any gmail address you like and start using it on websites anyway. I've gotten student financial aid docs, various product mailing lists, order receipts etc... it's amazing how many places take an email address and just start spamming without any validation at all.
- giancarlostoro 11mo agoI have met someone with my last name, if its not hyphenated, which mine is. My name is as unique as it gets with hyphenating. I never use my hyphenated name anywhere other than 100% legal stuff.
- notahacker 11mo agoI have a sufficiently uncommon last name to be able to figure out which branch of the family the misdirected emails are meant for. Was quite nice getting updates from the chip shop we used to get fish and chips from when we went to visit grandma, intended for someone who afaik I never met.
- cootsnuck 11mo agoYea I own first.last@gmail.com for my name too and I get emails for who I think is the same person fairly often. Like job stuff, professional education emails, etc. I used to reply to them saying wrong person but have given up...the guy must not care about not getting these emails... My first name is very uncommon and my last name is very common.
- benatkin 11mo agoI own tsrif.last@gmail.com and luckily I don't get any misdirected mail there.
- ethbr1 11mo agoSame, albeit it seems like multiple people. Or at least someone who moves states. It's bizarre though... who puts down an email address they don't own on a job application?!
- leipert 11mo agoI recently wanted to introduce someone to our internal recruiters to a person with a long, uniqueish name. The recruiter was like: they did respond with „I’m not interested“. But the person was like: I’ve never got a mail. Turned out the whatever tool our recruiter used spit out „first.lastname@gmail.com“ even though the person in question doesn’t own that email.
- ethbr1 11mo agoInteresting! I've gotten a wide enough variety of stuff (mortgage paperwork, homeowners insurance, game service accounts) that some of it has to be organically entered, but that is a good note. Crazy that any system would be set up that way, but HR tech is a clusterfuck. I am lastname.firstname@gmail.com, but I wouldn't be surprised if something similar is happening in some instances.
- mapmeld 11mo agoI am on the other side of this problem and was surprised because it is very easy to contact me. When the other person with my name forwarded the emails, it was all careless and unwanted recruiter mail. Someone goes into work, types first.last@gmail, and hits send without doing one Google search. Incredible.
- Grazester 11mo agoMy address is the same. Someone with my name thinks their email address is firstlast@gmail.com Its annoying especially since we have the same bank and they are not very good at paying their credit card on time. I therefore get their bank emails. Initially It will always have me confused as weight wait. I don't have any balance on my credit card. Was this fraud?
- mrec 11mo agoI'm in exactly the same situation - very rare last name, first.last@gmail.com address, wrong mail from all over including NZ.
- sysworld 11mo agoI have pretty rare first and last name, but somehow have gotten random person's car service receipts (and reminders) from a service place in the US (I live in NZ). There car has a lot of problems. I got on twitter pretty early too, and just have a short first time as my @, and occasionally get DMs about getting my @, but no one wants to hand out cash for it. The most I've been offered is $50. But most just expect me to give it for free.