There are 7, 899 Chantals in America. Combine that with my last name (500,000+ of those) and there are 15 people with my first and last name in America. Not bad.
So what would be ideal? Some people strive for unique. They want their baby to be one-of-a-kind. I don't necessarily think this is a good thing, and I'll tell you why.
My name is one-of-a-kind. I can pretty much guarantee that. But wait ...you say... she just said that there are 15 people in America who share her name! True, but that doesn't take into account my middle name. My middle name is so unique (why do we use that term like that anyway? Unique is unique. There's not more or less unique. It's one-of-a-kind or not!) that if you put it into google you will find:
My age, birth date, home address, what I do for a living (including my provider NPI number and place of employment), political affiliation, the date I registered to vote (including my voter identification number), and the dates I have voted. In the past I have also found my parents' names and my husband's name, but I didn't find these when I searched today.
Yikes, right? Do I really want to be that easy to find? Anyone who knows my middle name (and how to correctly spell it) can find out A LOT about me! I'm the only one, so it's all right there on the first page! I wish I would've considered this when I gave my daughter a fairly unusual middle name.
My point? It's something to think about. Maybe unique is not ideal.
Try your name! How many are there of you? howmanyofme.com
-Chantal
So what would be ideal? Some people strive for unique. They want their baby to be one-of-a-kind. I don't necessarily think this is a good thing, and I'll tell you why.
My name is one-of-a-kind. I can pretty much guarantee that. But wait ...you say... she just said that there are 15 people in America who share her name! True, but that doesn't take into account my middle name. My middle name is so unique (why do we use that term like that anyway? Unique is unique. There's not more or less unique. It's one-of-a-kind or not!) that if you put it into google you will find:
My age, birth date, home address, what I do for a living (including my provider NPI number and place of employment), political affiliation, the date I registered to vote (including my voter identification number), and the dates I have voted. In the past I have also found my parents' names and my husband's name, but I didn't find these when I searched today.
Yikes, right? Do I really want to be that easy to find? Anyone who knows my middle name (and how to correctly spell it) can find out A LOT about me! I'm the only one, so it's all right there on the first page! I wish I would've considered this when I gave my daughter a fairly unusual middle name.
My point? It's something to think about. Maybe unique is not ideal.
Try your name! How many are there of you? howmanyofme.com
-Chantal
That website said there are 5 or fewer people with my first name. My last name is one of the top ten. If you type my first and last name into google, I'm the only one you'll find info on, not 1-4 other people. The program is close, but not quite right on.
ReplyDeleteTrue. If you read the fine print it says that the numbers are a guess based on the census. :)
ReplyDelete