History Main / NamedLikeMyName

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Stand Up Comedy]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* A OneShotCharacter in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' is a monster living in the Aqua Teens' attic named Willie Nelson, who has to repeatedly clarify he has no relation to [[Creator/WillieNelson the musician]].

* Speaking of Marvel, [[ComicBook/XMen Shadowcat]] was named "Kitty Pride" after a real life person who, underestimating the popularity the character would have, authorized it. To avoid being compared to the character, she officially changed her name to "K.P."

* It's pretty tough to have two such [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/TomJones "not unusual"
"]] names as [[Literature/TheHistoryOfTomJonesAFoundling "Thomas" and "Jones"]].

* It's pretty tough to have two such common names as [[Literature/TheHistoryOfTomJonesAFoundling "Thomas" and "Jones"]].

* On ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Sam discovers that, while drunk, he had bet a stranger that he could marry Jacqueline Bisset within a year. On learning that the other party plans to hold him to that bet (and has a binding contract), he reads over the terms of the bet and realises that it doesn't specify Jacqueline Bisset the actress. He immediately sets out to find another woman of the same name to marry him.

[[folder: Stand Up]]
* A Creator/RowanAtkinson [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDfBk4fumJ4 routine]] for the Queen Mother's 90th birthday Royal Gala had him as an Australian named Alec Guinness who is quite puzzled that he was invited to take part, but doesn't quite twig that the letter was meant for the ''other'' Creator/AlecGuinness until the end.
[[/folder]]

* If you run into a YouTube video with a title promising Simon Cowell's struggle with a wild animal, it's probably the ''first'' Simon Cowell, the one who runs a wildlife aid station in Surrey.

** Hurricane Mitch in 1998 killed ten times as many people as Katrina did, but they mostly weren't Americans, so who cares? In fairness, "Mitch" is a much more common name than "Katrina" ("Catherine" and its other variants are common, but "Katrina" specifically isn't so much), which tends to diffuse the impact. Andrew, the hurricane holding the record for most property damage prior to Katrina, is also common enough as a name that it doesn't stand out.

** Former Marist point guard and Los Angeles Clippers draft pick Jared Jordan's father also shares a name with [[Creator/MichaelJordan His Airness]]. Like all of the above mentioned Michael Jordans except the actor, they're white.

* Speaking of Marvel, [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Shadowcat]] was named "Kitty Pride" after a real life person who, underestimating the popularity the character would have, authorized it. To avoid being compared to the character, she officially changed her name to "K.P."

* John Roberts in 2005. One anchored the CBS evening on the weekends, the other was sworn in as the Chief Justice in the U.S. Supreme Court. Not to mention that "John" and "Roberts" are an ordinary first name and surname, respectively, in the English-speaking world. You'll find a handful of them.
* If you work in a profession where you have a lot of contact with the general public, you will run across ordinary people with the same names as celebrities. For example, just here in Ontario, there is a furnace technician named Music/JimSteinman; a farm fuel delivery driver named Creator/JerryLewis who got a call from a farmer named Creator/DeanMartin; and a vet customer named Creator/MarilynMonroe (she spelled it "Munro").

* The wrestling booking simulator Game/TotalExtremeWrestling has a fictional wrestler named Jack Bruce who works a rock star gimmick and shares a name with the late Music/{{Cream}} bassist.
* Philippine Wrestling Revolution wrestler John Sebastian. You know, like the guy who sang for the Lovin' Spoonful and did the theme to Series/WelcomeBackKotter and the Franchise/CareBears cartoon.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] is the TropeNamer, being first elated to discover that an over-the-top action hero is "named like my name", and then driven to change his name when "Homer Simpson, Police Cop" is {{Re Tool}}ed as bumbling comic relief.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', when Hal Jordan hears about Guy Gardner's replacement on Earth, [[Franchise/GreenLantern John Stewart]], Hal's first reaction is [[Series/TheDailyShow "The fake news guy?"]] (this was spoken so he couldn't tell that they were spelled differently).

* Would current U.S. President Barack Obama be on the EmbarrassingMiddleName page if a man named Hussein and a man named Osama hadn't been enemies of the United States and "Hussein" wasn't rare to the point of OneMarioLimit in America?
* Brig. Gen. Sir Michael Jackson.
** Not to be confused with the late beer critic of the same name.
** Or the Los Angeles-based talk radio host, also of the same name.
** Or the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens wide receiver.
*** Whose actual last name is Dyson, but preferred the last name Jackson.
** Or the former head of Channel 4 -- What made so many Mr and Mrs Jacksons independently choose the name Michael?
** Because it was the most common/second most common name in America for a good, long time. And on that note, former Cleveland Indians closer Mike Jackson.
** Also some singer or other.
*** You mean [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Jackson_(singer) the one]] who wrote ''Blame It on the Boogie''?

* In ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', when Hal Jordan hears about Guy Gardner's replacement on Earth, [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague John Stewart]], Hal's first reaction is [[Series/TheDailyShow "The fake news guy?"]] And yes, while they are spelled differently, it's not something you can tell just by hearing it.

* Another Bill Clinton shows up in TomClancy's ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears''. Ironically, he's a Secret Service agent.

* ''Literature/BlackWidowers'': The mystery in "Second Best" involves a dying soldier who had the same name as a US President, but died before he could tell the guest what it was. The Widowers attempt to figure out which president from the cryptic clues the soldier dropped. [[spoiler:It was Grover Cleaveland]].

** However, he never seems to have read ''Literature/DayOfTheLocust''.