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I am not the author of the post but I thought it was interesting because it's related to something I've been thinking for a while: the "namespace" for humans is

I am not the author of the post but I thought it was interesting because it's related to something I've been thinking for a while: the "namespace" for humans is quite limited. World's population grow fast and practically no new first or last names have been introduced in the last years, therefore the chances of having another person with your exact same first and last names and more exposure than you is growing exponentially. Plus, thanks to the Internet, if someone with name X does something "remarkable" that name X will be associated to that individual forever, creating a "digital shadow" over those future individuals with the same name. I remember someone who had my exact same first and last name, and he had bought the domain [fist_name][last_name].com ... The annoying problem was that person was also a developer and his website was awful. I was always worried that someone could google me, find his site and, as he was a developer too, think that poor site was mine.

nathan_f77 11y ago
I have the same problem! http://nathanbroadbent.com/ http://nathanbroadbent.com/
dominotw 11y ago
>World's population grow fast and practically no new first or last names have been introduced in the last years, therefore the chances of having another person with your exact same first and last names and more exposure than you is growing exponentially. I plan to give my child a new last name for this reason so he/she could have unique google hit. But I am not sure what the legal implications of this are.
- EliRivers 11y ago
  Depends where you live. In the UK, the person registering the birth can give any surname: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2088/regulation/9/made http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2088/regulation/9/ma... In the UK, there is no legal formality around changing one's name (you can change it by deed poll if you want a piece of paper, but you change your name by simply using the new name), so they could change it themselves anyway whenever they feel like it.
- task_queue 11y ago
  What about the social implications
- jader201 11y ago
  Are you sure you (or your kid, for that matter) would want them to be that accessible on a Google search? Seems that could come back to bite them. I say that because my name is pretty unique -- most hits on my name are relevant to me -- and I have to be very careful about anything I make public. Even more so than most probably have to be. Fortunately, I'm a pretty boring person and it's not been much a problem.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    I have somewhat mixed feelings about having a unique [1] first/last name pair. The bad case IMO is sharing an unusual but not unique pairing with someone who you really don't want to be confused with. Back pre-web, a friend of mine in NYC shared a name with someone who was involved in a fairly serious local baseball scandal. My friend received everything up to and including death threats on his voicemail. [1] According to "deep web" searches, not entirely but the one or two other cases have no web presence and may well be deceased.
    - pavel_lishin 11y ago
      The uniqueness of my name has yet to bite me in the ass. I'm sure there are other Pavel Lishins (Pavels Lishin?) in Russia and Eastern Europe, but I appear to be the only one on this half of the globe.
- adolph 11y ago
  So far so good for me. I had a little last minute concern about airport security but they didn't bat an eye. I think that blended families are common enough so that different last names aren't a big deal.
marincounty 11y ago
Every year, I wait for my name(first, last).com. Every year, the guy who doesn't use the site much, waits until the last day to renew. Maybe one day he will forget? Why do I care? I really don't, but just want it out of greed? I have my nickname, plus last name .com up on the Internet, and no one remembers me? Or, since I still can't bear to put up any personal information--they probally have no idea who I am? I put up a cryptic poem, and expect people to resize it's me? I'm narcisstic, dumb, or crazy--probably all three?
twic 11y ago
Try being called Tom Anderson. Both the Myspace era and the height of popularity of The Matrix films were trying times for me.
- tsotha 11y ago
  Heh. I know four unrelated guys named Steve Miller. They might be willing to trade your "Misssssster Anderson"s for their "Some people call me a space cowboy... yeah"s.
- PhantomGremlin 11y ago
  It could be much worse. A friend of mine has a common name. Unfortunately this moron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peterson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peterson in California has his own Wikipedia entry. I just searched Google for that name, no quotes, and the entire first page of hits is about the moron in California. I guess the bright side is that my friend can fly under the radar.

nathan_f77 11y ago

I have the same problem! http://nathanbroadbent.com/ http://nathanbroadbent.com/

dominotw 11y ago

>World's population grow fast and practically no new first or last names have been introduced in the last years, therefore the chances of having another person with your exact same first and last names and more exposure than you is growing exponentially. I plan to give my child a new last name for this reason so he/she could have unique google hit. But I am not sure what the legal implications of this are.

EliRivers 11y ago
Depends where you live. In the UK, the person registering the birth can give any surname: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2088/regulation/9/made http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/2088/regulation/9/ma... In the UK, there is no legal formality around changing one's name (you can change it by deed poll if you want a piece of paper, but you change your name by simply using the new name), so they could change it themselves anyway whenever they feel like it.
task_queue 11y ago
What about the social implications
jader201 11y ago
Are you sure you (or your kid, for that matter) would want them to be that accessible on a Google search? Seems that could come back to bite them. I say that because my name is pretty unique -- most hits on my name are relevant to me -- and I have to be very careful about anything I make public. Even more so than most probably have to be. Fortunately, I'm a pretty boring person and it's not been much a problem.
- ghaff 11y ago
  I have somewhat mixed feelings about having a unique [1] first/last name pair. The bad case IMO is sharing an unusual but not unique pairing with someone who you really don't want to be confused with. Back pre-web, a friend of mine in NYC shared a name with someone who was involved in a fairly serious local baseball scandal. My friend received everything up to and including death threats on his voicemail. [1] According to "deep web" searches, not entirely but the one or two other cases have no web presence and may well be deceased.
  - pavel_lishin 11y ago
    The uniqueness of my name has yet to bite me in the ass. I'm sure there are other Pavel Lishins (Pavels Lishin?) in Russia and Eastern Europe, but I appear to be the only one on this half of the globe.
adolph 11y ago
So far so good for me. I had a little last minute concern about airport security but they didn't bat an eye. I think that blended families are common enough so that different last names aren't a big deal.

marincounty 11y ago

Every year, I wait for my name(first, last).com. Every year, the guy who doesn't use the site much, waits until the last day to renew. Maybe one day he will forget? Why do I care? I really don't, but just want it out of greed? I have my nickname, plus last name .com up on the Internet, and no one remembers me? Or, since I still can't bear to put up any personal information--they probally have no idea who I am? I put up a cryptic poem, and expect people to resize it's me? I'm narcisstic, dumb, or crazy--probably all three?

twic 11y ago

Try being called Tom Anderson. Both the Myspace era and the height of popularity of The Matrix films were trying times for me.

tsotha 11y ago
Heh. I know four unrelated guys named Steve Miller. They might be willing to trade your "Misssssster Anderson"s for their "Some people call me a space cowboy... yeah"s.
PhantomGremlin 11y ago
It could be much worse. A friend of mine has a common name. Unfortunately this moron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peterson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peterson in California has his own Wikipedia entry. I just searched Google for that name, no quotes, and the entire first page of hits is about the moron in California. I guess the bright side is that my friend can fly under the radar.