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1An individual has a perfectly unremarkable name, until someone unrelated, yet happening to share the same name, becomes well known. This can lead to the namesake basking in reflected glory or plunging into EmbarrassingMiddleName territory. Naturally averts the OneSteveLimit.
2
3A subtrope of SignificantNameOverlap. Doing this deliberately, InUniverse, is NamedAfterSomebodyFamous.
4
5----
6!!Examples
7
8[[foldercontrol]]
9
10[[folder:Advertising]]
11* A series of ads for Creator/{{ESPN}} featured the daily life of a man named Usefulnotes/MichaelJordan. Every time he received a delivery, showed up for a reservation, got called in the doctor's office, there would be a disappointed "Oh" as soon as he identified himself as Michael Jordan.
12* A series of Australian ads centered on the story of Creator/CameronDiaz, an unfortunately named man.
13* A 2014 Taco Bell ad found a bunch of men named [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] and got them to talk up their new menu item.
14* Best Buy ran an ad where a customer suggested that [[Creator/{{Microsoft}} Bill Gates]] should be their spokesman. And so Best Buy ''got'' Bill Gates --a rancher from Lufkin, Texas-- to plug their stores.
15[[/folder]]
16
17[[folder:Comedy]]
18* 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.
19[[/folder]]
20
21[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
22* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', one of the protagonist's buddies is named... Music/MichaelBolton, complete with LampshadeHanging. "There ''was'' nothing wrong with it... until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass-clown started winning Grammys."
23-->'''Samir:''' Why don't you just go by Mike?\
24'''Michael:''' No way. Why should I change ''my'' name? ''He's'' the one who sucks.
25* The main character of the French film ''Camping'' shares his surname with former president Chirac. When asked why he doesn't change it, he replies "Why should I be the one to change my name?"
26* The plot of ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' revolves around finding Private James Ryan and bringing him home to his mother. Midway through the movie, they find James Ryan... but it turns out he's a ''different'' James Ryan.
27* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'': Jeffrey Lebowski, known to everyone as The Dude, is an [[StonerFlick unemployed stoner]] who likes White Russians. The plot of the film kicks off when he is mistaken for another man with the same name, the titular Big Lebowski, an insanely rich paraplegic.
28* In ''Film/HighPressure'', the delivery boy who arrives at Gar's corporation is named Augustus Vanderbilt. He's no relation to the OldMoney Vanderbilts, but Gar, who is more or less a con artist, puts him on the corporation's board of directors.
29* In ''Film/{{Cellular}}'', Jessica Martin asks Ryan to protect her son Ricky.
30-->'''Ryan:''' Ricky Martin? You named your child Ricky Martin?!\
31'''Jessica:''' It was before [[Music/RickyMartin the singer]]…
32* ''Film/TheIncredibleJessicaJames'': Boone's ex-wife is named Mandy Moore. He has to clarify that she's not ''the'' Creator/MandyMoore, and it's actually a fairly common name.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Literature]]
36* A couple of examples in the ''Literature/AdrianMole'' books:
37** In ''True Confessions'', the student living with Adrian's mother is Martin Muffet; and adds "and spare the jokes about tuffets and spiders, will you?"
38** In ''Prostate Years'', Adrian's consultant is Dr Rubik, who sighs "yes, as in the damn cube".
39* Taken to an art form in Bill Fitzhugh's ''Pest Control'', whose lead is named Bob Dillon, and was born a few years before Robert A. Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, became famous. It didn't make for a happy childhood. He spends the entire book being confused with Bob Dylan, even by the CIA.
40* Jennifer Lopez in ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd''.
41* Basically the whole point of ''Literature/WillGraysonWillGrayson'', where two teenagers in Chicago who share a name meet and then find their lives start to clash.
42* Óscar de León, the main character in ''Literature/TheBriefWondrousLifeOfOscarWao'', has the name of a famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_D%27Le%C3%B3n salsa singer]]. This is, though, never mentioned in the book.
43* John Sandford is fond of this trope. Minor characters named Bill Clinton, James Brown ("Not ''the'' James Brown?" "Why yes, I am. This is my disguise: keeps the groupies off."), and Henry Ford (a medical examiner: "doesn't know shit about cars") show up in the Prey and Virgil Flowers books.
44* Another Bill Clinton shows up in Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears''. Ironically, he's a Secret Service agent.
45* ''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 Cleveland]].
46* ''Literature/LikeAFishUnderstandsATree'' has British teenager Creator/SusanSarandon, who is embarrassed by the coincidence and annoyed that her parents didn't realize they'd named her after a movie star.
47* ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': It's mentioned generally that Mycroft (after [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Mycroft Holmes]]) used to be one of the more popular names of the time, up until the protagonist Mycroft Canner did something so awful it stained the name forever, which was an inconvenience for all the other Mycrofts in the world. [[spoiler:Being the most heinous serial killer in modern history will do that.]] One of the main characters is technically named Mycroft Guildbreaker, but prefers to go by Martin as a result.
48[[/folder]]
49
50[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
51* Elaine's boyfriend Joel Rifkin on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', whose name she tries to get him to change because it's the same as the serial killer's. Eventually she breaks up with him over it. (In a HilariousInHindsight moment, one of the names she suggests, while desperately flipping through ''Sports Illustrated'', is O.J. If you forget that there was a time before O.J. was a suspected murderer, this comes off as an intentional joke, and you wonder why the audience isn't laughing.)
52* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "SWAK" has a Dr. Brad Pitt treating Tony for the pneumonic plague.
53* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' gave us George Michael, whose name is perfectly logical (he's named for his grandfather and his father respectively). Almost looks like it could be an AvertedTrope because it's only mentioned once in the whole series ("Are you sure it wasn't the other George Michael? You know; the singer songwriter?") but it's clear that the idea of a nerdy, self-conscious teenage kid who questions almost everything he does and thinks being lumbered with George Michael as a name is an intentional layer. He's also ''never'' called simply "George".
54** Season 4 finds him getting very tired of sharing a name with a man arrested for lewd acts in a public restroom and deciding to adopt the pseudonym "George Maharis." [[http://www.nndb.com/people/554/000091281/ Too bad he didn't know something about his new namesake.]]
55* A sketch on an early episode of ''Series/AllThat'' had people making wishes before taking shots at a basketball hoop, and having them granted if they make the basket. Kenan Thompson then says, "If I make this shot, I'm gonna meet UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan!" He makes it, and in walks a very white plumber named Michael Jordan.
56* On ''Series/{{JAG}}'', Harm persuades a witness to talk by offering to set him up for a date with Jennifer Lopez, not mentioning that he means his dental hygienist.
57* In one episode of ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'', the vicar gets Alice's cousin Reg Dwight, who she's not seen for years, but thinks became some sort of musician, to open the village fete. He turns out, of course, not to be ''[[Music/EltonJohn that]]'' Reg Dwight.
58* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': In "[[Recap/CheersS3E18BarBet Bar Bet]]" 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.
59* On ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Liz's "future husband" Wesley Snipes doesn't like that to be pointed out.
60--> '''Wesley Snipes:''' It's insane that the actor Wesley Snipes has that name. If you saw a picture of him and a picture of me and you were asked who should be named Wesley Snipes, you'd pick the pale Englishman every time. Every time, Liz! Frankly, you should be having this conversation with him!
61* On ''Series/SiflAndOlly'', a caller comes in complaining that people make fun of him because of his name and he's thinking of changing it. It's UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln.
62* ''Series/{{Stella|UK}}'': Stella's new neighbour is called Michael Jackson. He will point this out on your first meeting "just to get it out of the way".
63* We finally discover Mac's real name on ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' when he's handed a name badge at the gang's high school reunion: It's Ronald [=McDonald=].
64* ''[[Series/YouMeAndTheApocalypse You, Me And The Apocalypse]]'': one of the characters, a thirtysomething male, is called ''Ariel''. "Like the Little F**king mermaid."
65* ''Series/MidnightCaller'': The father of Devon's child is named [[Creator/DickClark Richard Clark]]. He insists on being called Richard and not Dick.
66* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': Late in season 2, Nucky Thompson travels to Ireland to make a deal with the IRA to sell surplus Thompson submachine guns to them in exchange for importing Irish whiskey for him to sell in Atlantic City. After a shooting demonstration, one of the IRA members asks Nucky if he invented the gun, and he answers, "No. It's just a happy coincidence."
67 [[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Music]]
70* The Scottish folk song "Leezie Lindsay" is about a peasant girl who is courted by, and marries, a chieftain. In at least one version, his name is Ronald [=MacDonald=]. Though the song probably predates the fast food chain by centuries, it's funny to hear the line "For she's to wed Ronald [=MacDonald=]."
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Podcasts]]
74* ''Podcast/BehindTheBastards'' is hosted by Robert Evans, namesake of a famous Hollywood producer. Before the death of the producer Evans, the podcaster Evans had "the other Rober Evans" in his twitter bio, and "the only Robert Evans" after.
75* ''Cult Podcast'' is co-hosted by Armando Torres, who shares the name with the player character from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony''
76* ''You're Wrong About'' is hosted by Sarah Marshall, who goes on twitter by the handle [[Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall @Remember_Sarah]]
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:Roleplay]]
80* InUniverse version with Subjects 5 and 6 in ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'', who are both named Tom. #5 is a normal patient, and #6 is well known as being highly dangerous and violent. Their names cause them to get mixed up by [[spoiler: the players, who assumed that the Tom who'd been Ruby's companion since near the beginning was Subject #5 and the raccoon they met later was Subject #6. It's really the other way around]].
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:Video Games]]
84* This can happen in ''{{VideoGame/Pharaoh}}'': At high popularity levels, one of the ratings is "Mothers name their children after you." At low levels, "Mothers use your name to frighten their children". And it's much easier to lose popularity than regain it...
85[[/folder]]
86
87[[folder:Web Comics]]
88* A variation in ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': In the half-issue that started the comic, the titular doctor gets furious at [=McDonald's=] after they release "the [=McNinja=] Burger". His lawyer tells him that this isn't an unusual case, bringing up a huge protest made up of hundreds of people with the last name [=McDonald=] claiming their name was stolen (as well "one Robert Pizzahut").
89* Another variation in ''Webcomic/{{Concerned}}'', a comic set in and around the events of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', starring Gordon Frohman. Conversely, when Freeman actually does show up late in the comic, the first reaction to him shown in-comic includes someone mistaking him for Frohman. Other strips also have a man mistaking Frohman for [[Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff the Sausage King of Chicago]] and Frohman recounting the death of his UsefulNotes/WorldWarII veteran grandfather, Morgan Frohman.
90* A comic of ''Webcomic/BobTheAngryFlower'' has Bob warning Osama bin Laden that he's been placed on the [=FBI=]'s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The punchline is that he then exclaims "But I am not ''that'' Osama bin Laden!" ([[http://www.angryflower.com/osama.htm Note this was written in 1998]].)
91* In ''Webcomic/{{Consolers}}'', Tiger Telematics (who usually just goes by Tiger) gets mistaken for Tiger Electronics, another "Tiger" company who's more well-known. He's not happy about this.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Web Original]]
95* One ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' [[http://notalwaysright.com/when-youve-been-shawshanked/26012 story]] tells the tale of a young Caucasian woman named Creator/MorganFreeman. Her customers [[TheyJustDontGetIt can't seem to grasp that she's not actually the actor or even claiming to be him]], and eventually refuse to do business with her because of this "dishonesty".
96[[/folder]]
97
98[[folder:Web Videos]]
99* Website/ChannelAwesome has brought up several times in his [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Critic]] videos that he hates the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' with a passion because he was tormented endlessly in school for having the same name. [[BerserkButton When it's brought up,]] [[UnstoppableRage bad things happen.]] It's almost as bad as the "[[Film/BatmanAndRobin Bat credit card]]".
100* Kevin and Ryan of WebVideo/GuaranteedVideo share their first and last names with Creator/KevinJames and Creator/RyanMurphy, respectively. Lampshaded in “The Money Tree”: [[FreezeFrameBonus if you look closely at the first newspaper]], Ryan is listed as “Glee creator”. Justified in that these are their actual, real life names.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Western Animation]]
104* 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 [[Music/WillieNelson the musician]].
105* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' involved a European pop band being promoted across Elwood City named "Binky". Naturally, Binky Barnes gets accused of spreading graffiti until the situation is eventually cleared up.
106* In ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', when Hal Jordan hears about Guy Gardner's replacement on Earth, [[Franchise/GreenLantern John Stewart]], Hal's first reaction is [[Creator/JonStewart "The fake news guy?"]] (This was spoken, so he couldn't tell that they were spelled differently).
107* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is the TropeNamer. In "Homer To The Max", Homer initially elated to discover that an over-the-top action hero in ''[[ShowWithinAShow Police Cops]]'' is "named like my name", and then driven to change his name when "Homer Simpson, Police Cop" is {{retool}}ed as bumbling comic relief.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:Real Life]]
111* Would 44th U.S. President UsefulNotes/BarackObama 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 JustForFun/OneMarioLimit in America? Obama himself once joked that he was given his first name after his father and his middle name "by someone who never expected me to be President".
112** Made even worse after he picked UsefulNotes/JoeBiden as his running mate, causing people to joke that the Obama/Biden ticket was ''trying'' to sound as much like "Osama bin Laden" as possible.
113* Brig. Gen. Sir Michael Jackson, and the various other people sharing Music/MichaelJackson's name.
114* Nancy Cartwright, author of ''How the Laws of Physics Lie'', and Creator/NancyCartwright, best known as the voice of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]].
115* Really, though, how many people have been embarrassed or received 15 minutes of fame because they were named Franchise/HarryPotter, Homer Simpson or Music/JenniferLopez? Especially true of Spanish names, as there are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs#Naming_system_in_Spain 10 extremely common surnames]] and a lot of chances for redundancy. Several stories involved Jennifer Lopezes having to prove they weren't identity thieves.
116** There is a newscaster in the Dallas area named Jennifer Lopez, and the network even ran advertisements talking about how they had their "own star" in her.
117** The Weather Channel also had a reporter named Jennifer Lopez.
118** There is an Australian news reporter named Harry Potter. You can almost feel his "What did I do to deserve this?" when he signs off with "Harry Potter, 10 News."
119* There is a mythology/religion author named Michael Jordan.
120** Also, British auto racer Mike Jordan.
121** And, of course, actor Creator/MichaelBJordan, who uses his middle initial to avoid confusion (and because ''the'' Michael Jordan [[Film/SpaceJam made a foray into acting]] before his career began and therefore most likely got the initial-free SAG card).
122** Former Marist point guard and Los Angeles Clippers draft pick Jared Jordan's father also shares a name with [[UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan His Airness]]. Like all of the above mentioned Michael Jordans except the actor, they're white.
123* The name "Film/HarryPalmer" is not all that rare, even with [[JustForFun/OneMarioLimit the presence of a certain actor named Michael Caine]].
124* In France, there are a lot of people named François Pignon who do ''not'' like film director Francis Veber.
125* How many Jareds are there on these boards? Now, how many have them have been associated with Subway restaurants, diamonds, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqCCBohjaqA illiterate 19-year-olds]]?
126* And let's not forget the ''other'' apostle Jude. Getting anyone to pray to him was seen as a lost cause — so the Roman Catholic Church [[LampshadeHanging made him the patron saint of lost causes]].
127** Even the ''Gospel of John'' has to refer to him as "Judas (not Iscariot)" at one point.
128* There are probably lots of real people named [[Series/TheOfficeUK Michael Scott]]. God help any of them who are office managers.
129** One of them is the author of ''Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel''. And yes, there's a ''The Office'' joke on the book series' page about that.
130* French car manufacturer [[TheAllegedCar Renault]] is being threatened with a lawsuit over the proposed name of its new model, the Zoe. Apparently the real [[http://www.insideline.com/renault/zoe/renault-threatened-with-lawsuit-by-a-zoe-over-evs-name.html Zoe Renault is not amused]].
131** British rugby player Austin Healey already has this problem, although the Austin Healey car was named first and is no longer made.
132** "Chevrolet" is a French surname, and "Ferrari" is pretty much the Italian equivalent of "Smith", so there are lots of Ferraris in Italy.
133** "Honda" is a Japanese surname, though very few Westerners actually pronounce it as the surname is meant to be pronounced.
134* There's a guy in Britain named Slobodan Milosevic.
135* Anyone with the same name as a hurricane. Actually, this only applies to one name, as there has never been a hurricane half as famous as Katrina.
136** 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 defuse 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.
137** Brings a whole new meaning to Katrina & The Waves...
138* The Levi Strauss jean company. With everybody saying when they meet you, "Like the jeans?"
139* Brad Pitt was a guest on a Nickelodeon bump. No, not ''the'' Creator/BradPitt, just a guy who happened to be named Brad Pitt. He showed his driver's license to prove it. No, he had not changed his name.
140* It's pretty tough to have two such [[Music/TomJones "not unusual"]] names as [[Literature/TheHistoryOfTomJonesAFoundling "Thomas" and "Jones"]].
141* Tom Kruse, inventor of the Hoveround.
142* In 2010, an Indo-American lawyer named Kamala Harris was elected Attorney General of California. This may have caused some confusion/amusement to ProfessionalWrestling fans, as 400-pound wrestler James Harris is best known for having used the gimmick of a "Ugandan Headhunter" named Kamala.
143** In another Kamala Harris example, Creator/MarvelComics introduced a new version of ComicBook/MsMarvel in 2013, a Pakistani-American girl named Kamala Khan. At that time Harris was Attorney General of California but the names caught attention when Harris became the nominee for Vice President in 2020. Although it’s a coincidence and the names come from two different languages. According to Khan’s creator, G. Willow Wilson, she created the name as a feminization of “Kamal” (meaning “perfection” in Arabic) since it’s not actually a girl’s name. It’s pronounced “Camel-a”. Harris’s maternal family is from south India and it means “lotus” in Sanskrit. Her name is also pronounced “Comma-la”.
144* There have been news anchormen called James Brown. [[Music/JamesBrown They're white, and not very funky]].
145* Richard Tracy would have been fine, if he hadn't gone into police work, eventually working his way up to [[ComicStrip/DickTracy Detective]].
146* On Website/{{Facebook}}, there can only be one user named Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the site. One lawyer got banned from Facebook because he was apparently trying to impersonate the founder.
147** There's a man in Florida named Justin Bieber. No, not ''the'' Music/JustinBieber, just some guy who happens to have the same name. He actually had his Website/{{Facebook}} account ''shut down'' on accusations of being an impostor. To say nothing of the {{fangirl}}s. (He even appeared on ''Series/TheLateShowWithDavidLetterman'' to read a list, "Top 10 Reasons It's Great to Be Named Justin Bieber".)
148** Much like that, there's a British office worker who shares a name with Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. She got kicked off Facebook, too.
149** There's a Michigan college student named Music/AshleyTisdale who had two accounts shut down for "impersonating a celebrity."
150* One of the producers on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' is Adam Sandler. No, not that Creator/AdamSandler, though it's hilarious considering his onscreen brawl with Bob Barker in ''Film/HappyGilmore''.
151* There's a nurse in Northampton, England, named Yassar Arafat. He spells his first name with an ''a'', but still.
152* Jonathan L. Woodward, co-author of ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TabletopGame/{{Banestorm}}'', shares his name with Jonathan M. Woodward, frequent guest star in Creator/JossWhedon projects.
153* There is an economics professor named Steven Landsburg. Not the ''exact'' same name as Creator/SteveLandesberg, but they could easily get confused, especially in conversation.
154* An early editor of ''Magazine/DragonMagazine'' once ran a fan's letter in the [[AprilFoolsDay April issue's]] editor's column, which praised his work in the ''Film/JamesBond'' films. He didn't have the heart to tell the fan that he wasn't ''that'' Creator/RogerMoore.
155* [[http://imnotthatadamlevine.org/ A Los Angeles resident named Adam Levine]] just happened to have his number listed in the phone book, which was no problem until Music/Maroon5, fronted by another Music/AdamLevine and also hailing from Los Angeles, became popular. For a while, he was retaliating by posting mp3s of some of the more embarrassingly fangirl-ish voicemail he'd been getting; now that the calls have died down and he's made his point, the messages have been taken offline and the site is no longer updated.
156* Sir Peter Parker, former head of British Rail.
157* Gerhard Schröder is a very common combination of names in Germany. It includes at least three politicians of note in the Federal Republic, including its third foreign minister (a Christian Democrat) and its sixth chancellor (a Social Democrat).
158* The creator of the cochlear implant was [[Series/{{House}} Dr. House]], though his first name was William, not Gregory. He also performed ear surgery on astronaut Alan Shepard which allowed him to fly again and command Apollo 14. Google shows there are a few other doctors named House out there as well.
159* If you run into a Website/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.
160* Try living in the United States with the name Joaquin and not having the actor come up once a month.
161** Or, if you live in California, [[Film/TheMaskOfZorro "JOAQUIIIIIIIIIIN!"]]
162* The name "Ralph Macchio" is shared by the lead actor from ''Film/TheKarateKid'' and a long-time editor at Creator/MarvelComics.
163* Speaking of Marvel, [[ComicBook/XMen Shadowcat]] was named "Kitty Pryde" 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."
164* When phonebooks still existed, there was a guy named "George Jetson" in the British Columbia Lower Mainland White Pages.
165* Don Arden, who was the manager of ELO and Black Sabbath and the father of Sharon Osborne, can easily be confused with Donn Arden, a stage producer known for creating the modern Vegas "showgirl" show.
166* Robert Altman is a filmmaker ''and'' a photographer, but they are not the same person.
167* Take two of the most common names in English: "John" and "Williams". Put them together, and it's only natural that you'd share the name with a multitude of celebrities from musicians to athletes.
168* John Roberts in 2005. One anchored the CBS evening news 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.
169* 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 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 Music/DeanMartin; and a vet customer named Creator/MarilynMonroe (she spelled it "Munro").
170* The commanding officer of the first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zumwalt next generation US destroyer]] is named [[Franchise/StarTrek James Kirk]] (A. instead of T., though).
171* The wrestling booking simulator ''VideoGame/TotalExtremeWrestling'' has a fictional wrestler named Jack Bruce who works a rock star gimmick and shares a name with the late Music/{{Cream}} bassist.
172* 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.
173* In the early 1950s, two women named Creator/PattyMaloney were living in the UsefulNotes/{{Orlando}} area. The ''other'' one wrote for the ''Orlando Evening Star'', but they're not known to have met each other.
174* Spare a thought for Ancient Roman poet Helvius Cinna, who was killed by the angry mob at Julius Caesar's funeral because he was mistaken for Cornelius Cinna, a politician linked with the assassination plot.
175** Invoked by Caesar himself, after a fashion. Embarking on an anti-reactionary campaign in Africa province (site of Rome's once-great enemy, Carthage), Caesar countered naysayers who proclaimed that the place had never been conquered by someone not named Scipio by ostentatiously bringing along with him a useless nonentity member the Scipio clan to "lead" the charge.
176* When Los Angeles resident Alex Baptiste started getting tagged in tweets about a Bolton Wanderers defender of the same name, he took it in such good stride that [[https://twitter.com/AlexBaptiste/status/1424482052284444673 he ended up becoming a Bolton supporter]].
177* Tom Brady had over a decade working on TV, including gigs in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''Westernanimation/TheCritic'', before, [[https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/interview-tom-brady as he said on an interview,]] "I heard about this young back-up guy at Michigan and I thought, 'Oh, no one will ever hear of this guy.' Now, I [seem] to be the other Creator/TomBrady."
178* Everyone with the last name "Stark" risks getting a chuckle from those who are [[ComicBook/IronMan comic-book fans]] or [[Series/GameOfThrones fantasy fans.]]
179* In the ''Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry'' episode "The Puzzle of the Pyramids", Dr Adam Rutherford, geneticist, describes learning that there was another Dr Adam Rutherford who was a pyramidologist ... from someone who genuinely believed that Rutherford (born 1975) wrote ''The Great Pyramid'' (published 1945).
180* When Music/{{Skinless}} announced that they had added a guitarist named Dave Matthews to their line-up shortly after re-forming in 2013, it caused more than a few jokes from people who wanted to have a laugh at the new guy sharing a name with the namesake of Music/DaveMatthewsBand. Too bad for them that this Dave quickly stopped being amused by the joking comparisons to the leader of a jam band, and that his long ties to the upstate New York Death Metal community, and Skinless specifically,[[note]]he'd been in and out of various projects in the region over the previous 20 years, and had a strong friendship with Skinless front man Noah Carpenter going at least that far back; Noah had even previously recruited Dave to play for him in his Power/Thrash side project Armor Column before Skinless reformed[[/note]] caused the other members to side with him. This led to a bit of TrollingCreator by the group until most of the fanbase got the message and laid off the jokes.
181* Musician [[Music/{{Sting}} Gordon "Sting" Sumner]] asked to meet professional wrestler [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} Steve "Sting" Borden]] in the early '90s. Sumner told Borden the reason why at the meeting: He'd discovered his young son had a poster of the wrestler Sting on his wall, and he wondered who this other Sting was and wanted to meet him. There's a long-running rumor in the wrestling world that Sting the wrestler owns the trademark on the name Sting, and Sting the musician has to pay him to use it - albeit only a token fee of just $1 a year, since the situation is an unintended side-effect of the trademark.
182[[/folder]]

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