The Aptronym and the Googlegängers

Jason Captain was until recently a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, which is amusingly aptronymic in itself. (Lieutenant Captain, meet Major Major Major Major.) But then he left the military to train to be a commercial airline pilot, according to this article in today's New York Times.

That's right. Captain Captain.

(Or maybe not: "[W]ith the airline industry ready to go into another swoon because of high fuel prices, Mr. Captain and other junior pilots could find themselves furloughed.")

Elsewhere in today's Times--on the front page, as a matter of fact--reporter Stephanie Rosenbloom investigates Googlegängers--namesakes found through Google searches. (From German Doppelgänger, literally "double goer": a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.) From the article:

In “Finding Angela Shelton,” a book published this month, a writer named Angela Shelton describes her meetings with 40 other Angela Sheltons. Keri Smith, an illustrator, has posted drawings of six of her Googlegängers on her blog. There are name-tally Web sites like SameNameAsMe, and Facebook coalitions including nearly 200 people named Ritz (their insignia is a cracker box logo) and a group aiming to break a world record by gathering together more than 1,224 Mohammed Hassans.

But while many people are familiar with Googlegängers, a fundamental question has gone unanswered: Why do so many feel a connection — be it kinship or competition — with utter strangers just because they share a name?

I'm certainly familiar with the phenomenon. Well before Google's advent, I crossed virtual paths with Nancy Friedman of St. Louis, who calls herself the Telephone Doctor. (She advises companies on improving their customer service skills.) When the Rainbow Room closed in New York City, a news article mentioned its publicist: Nancy J. Friedman.

I also learned of the still barely Googleable Nancy M. Friedman, a therapist who lived only a mile away from me. (I used to get voicemail messages from her clients.) Nancy M. and I eventually met and, yes, bonded. It turned our we belonged to the same gym and bought subscriptions to the same performing arts events.

Out of idle curiosity, I began looking for and discovering more and more Nancy Friedmans.  At one point I considered writing an article or even a book about this odd little sisterhood--it turns out we all were born within a few years of each other--but I ended up consigning the information to the Not About Me section of my web site. (Scroll down.)

Angela Shelton, however, did publish a book, Finding Angela Shelton, about her encounters with 40 namesakes. And Grace Lee, a Korean-American filmmaker, made The Grace Lee Project, "a funny, highly unscientific investigation into all those Grace Lees who break the mold -- from a fiery social activist to a rebel who tried to burn down her high school."

I'm pretty sure there was another first-person documentary on the subject, by a male filmmaker. Does anyone remember its name?

Comments

[Dan]

You're probably thinking of Alan Berliner's "The Sweetest Sound."

A year ago I got a message on Facebook from my British doppelganger, who has the same name and the same birthday. He said "We are legends!" and that's the last I've heard from him.

[Martin Bishop]

My claim to fame is that Robert Redford played Martin Bishop in "Sneakers," something a suprising number of people know and tell me when I introduce myself to them.

In fact, the cinematic Martin Bishop turns up way before me on a "Martin Bishop" search. I don't even make the first page.

[Orange]

I've never found another Amy Reynaldo on Google. I like it just fine that way, too.

Lee has got to be the most diverse Googlegänger name in America. My dentist, an Asian woman, shared that last name with an African-American guy who worked at her reception desk (no relation), and there are plenty of white Lees around, too.

[Andrew]

Could it be Dave Gorman you are thinking of? He had an excellent show where he explained his journeys around the world looking for other Dave Gormans, all because of a bet. He did something similar with Googlewhacks as well. Legend.

[Megan Smolenyak]

or it could be Jim Killeen with his film "Google Me"

[Nick Tata]

I wondering if this gives creditability to numerology?
The letters of your name changed into numbers to tell your fortune. People with the same names would have similiar fortunes and experiencies.

[Jim Allen, The Big Life Guy™]

Somebody already mentioned Dave Gorman, which is the other project along this lines I've heard of...

Funny, just this morning the TODAY Show had a story on film-maker David Wilson who is, as his film's website says "... a 28-year-old African-American journalist... [who]journeys into his family’s past... [and] meets another David Wilson, the descendant of his family’s slave master."

Myself, I've thought of a book project along these lines: YES, WE HAVE SOME JIM ALLENS. I figure there are enough of us that even if only the other Jim Allens bought it, it'd be a best-seller.

[Mary]

When I heard about Angela Shelton's book, I thought of the various Mary Sullivans I know -- one of whom I met through this very same Nancy Friedman! In several different cases, we Marys found we shared a healthcare provider, which is more than a little disconcerting. One uses the same optician I do. Another was a patient of the same OB/GYN I was seeing and gave birth to a son at the same hospital, same time, as when I had my first son. Yes, I brought home the right kid!