My wife woke up to the clock radio, that announced that I was dead. I have the same name as a local newspaper editor. The only positive, was that we stopped receiving his death threats!
Our family traveled to Italy with my husband’s parents. When we were checking in to the return flight, they would not allow both my husband and his father on the flight bc they had the same name. They have a striking resemblance, and both had their passports. We six were all waiting around the desk, obviously a family. They made them choose which one was going to fly home. Finally at the very last minute, someone found a few of their missing brain cells and let us all on the flight. It had gone on for at least an hour.
Worked at a casino. They were holding a rememberance for someone who passed away. He had the same name as me. My fellow employees were stunned when I showed up for work that night.
That's why they probably don't want mathematicians on the juror pool. They might actually know the odds! Like with 20 or 21 people in a room, the odds of someone having the same birthday is already like 50%.
Oh absolutely! Matt Parker, stand up mathematician (math comedian), has videos about this exact thing. Specifically about married couples finding childhood photos with their future spouse in the background. I.e. a family vacation to Disney parks and there is a stroller with future spouse in the background. What are the odds that would happen to the?? Incredibly slim. The question asked less often is what are the odds that would happen at all? Even if an event has a low probability, if there are enough chances then it is still bound to happen. For example, what if there was a 1 billion sided die. Pick your favorite number, and it has 1/1e9 chances of coming up. Very very slim odds of that happening. However if everyone of earth rolled (what are we up to? 7bil, 9 bil?) then we should expect your magic number to be rolled 7-9 times. In short, if there are enough chances for a very low probability event to happen, we can expect it to happen.
Looool, don’t muddy the waters, though. Outliers always exist and can sometimes be explained. Odds and probability are still useful for scientific calculations.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there's only a 1 in 1 billion chance that the DNA from the crime scene belongs to somebody other than the (dramatically points finger) *defendant*!" So 7 other people, and probably not from some place far away where people have different physical characteristics?
My husband *had a doppelganger. Same first middle and last names, same date of birth, born in the same hospital. We don't know what he looked like, we never met him, but we knew there was someone out there, because the guy had gotten into some legal trouble, and my husband was almost arrested for it a few times. The last time we dealt with this, we had been to Canada for a concert, and on our way back, when we got to the border crossing, they had us park and go inside. We sat there for about 45 minutes, and that's when we found out that his doppelganger had actually died. They were very concerned about the fact that there was someone with same name and date of birth that was reported deceased. They photocopied his ID and had to have checks done to make sure it wasn't the same person.
When i was a kid (c.1950) my mother told about a Smith couple who birthed a new son. They named him Tiger. (This was way before T. Woods.) They apparently were trying to avoid the doppelganger problem that is common among Smiths..
I had a good friend who had almoat the same issue. Guy had unique name like James P. Thorson III. His doppelganger had the same name except the III and was born in the same hospital but with a transposed birth year. Like 76 vs 67. His doppelganger was deceased but had lifetime of debts, conman activities, petty crimes, and minor felonies. He actually carried around with him a letter from a local magistrate explaining the mixup. It did help the guy was white and he was very much not white. He even had some loan shark wise guy type characters show up once trying to find the guy. They at least knew they were looking for skinny white guy... so better than the police
I have a common name and one of them has my same birthday as well but different state. Found out about him when I first got my driver's license. He had already had his license revoked at 16 and they had to verify my SSN. Caused me problems every time I renewed my license as well. Still not as bad as the wanted felon 10 years older than me from my birth city. Having a common name sucks.
About 15 years ago I needed to take a few days off work for my uncle's funeral. You were allowed 3 days but you had to supply a letter from the funeral home to show you weren't a dirty little liar. Well, turns out the funeral home had the same name as me. The owner was a distant cousin who had the same first and last name as I did. Needless to say this caused quite a roo at work. When I presented my confirmation letter my boss asked me if this was some kind of joke. I replied "That's totally a real letter and not something I made up just to get a few days off work." Later that day I was called into the office. Everyone was there; union rep, 3 formen, our boss, her boss and her bosses boss all waiting to hear how I thought I could get away with something like this. My defense was, "I know you don't believe the number on the letter is real and as a new business it was not listed in the phone book yet but it should be easy enough to call information and verify it then call the funeral home to double check." The only thing that would have made this better is if my phone would have rung in my pocket as she made the call.
Many years ago I read about two men born in the same hospital on the same day and given the same full name. They were given the same Social Security Number because someone thought the applications were duplicates. This was discovered when they were old enough to work and file taxes. One was notified he had underreported his income.
Small world. I remember seeing a story about a man and woman who were about to get married, and they happened to be looking through old photo albums from childhood, and one showed the other a family photo taken during a trip to Disneyland. In the picture, just feet away, was the other person's family! The man and woman crossed paths many years earlier, while being pushed in strollers.
One time when my sister was in England she toured this one castle. After the tour was over, she was asked if she could wait a few extra minutes before leaving. The guide then took her into a part of the castle not on the tour. There was a portrait of a woman that look just like my sisters. According to our genealogy we were descended from that same family.
We were on a tour in an Antebellum home in the South and saw a portrait which resembled one of our friends. Took a photo of it and both he and his wife agreed the similarities were startling.
I have an old photo, among my grandmother's family photos, of a little boy that I have no clue who he is. I'd normally discount the photo but he is a DEAD RINGER for my great nephew when he was little.
Tom McCall who wrote a column for a Mechanics Digest, got a letter from a guy who said, " I look just like you, and I'm about your age. What do you think about that?" Tom answered, " I think Dad got around, when he owned that motorcycle."
happened to my mom. The pilot even noticed and suggested to mom he'd introduse the two. My mom was terrefied and refused. The thing is someone in the gov ofice sold her passport data/copy, and the other person was on the wanted list, leading to my mom being stopped and searched in every airpost she ever visited. The impostor got later caught and sent to prisoner, but my mom would still get stopped. One time she was stopped by a trainee, who asked their trainer, "Hey, is that...?" - "No, she was already caught." Took a few years for that info to update. Your doubles are DANGEROUS!!!!
Someone started using a friend's SSN. She was retired but income kept being reported. My friend tried reporting the situation to the Social Security office but they didn't care. This friend has sinced passed.
I was in the Navy, stationed in Pearl Harbor. I went to renew my license plate on my car and was told that I had to go to an address they wrote down for me to clear an issue first. I drove to a courthouse, went inside and they told me to pay a fine for the ticket I had before I could renew my plates. I told them that I didn't have any tickets. That called me by my name and said "You're in the Navy right? On the USS Port Royal? "No, I'm on the USS Russell." I gave them my social security number and they gave me a form stating that everything was clear. A few years later I was stationed on a small base in Virginia, just 1200 people. I was one of three with the same first, middle, and last name on that base.
I remember in elementary school I was in the same class as another Tyler Petersen vs Tyler Peterson. Quite a few times we had a sub taking attendance and call out "Tyler." We would respond "Which one?" He would say "Petersen" We would respond again "With an e or an o" Only for the sub to look at roster in confusion it was hilarious.
Middle school English teacher had a class the year before with a bunch of Michael's in it. Something like 7? Anyway, they had different last names so they all got called by their last names.
I had a class in high school with a male student named Austin Brown and a female student named Austyn Brown. It was always funny when the office was trying to call for one of them over the intercom.
When I was a small kid (6 years old or so) somebody called out my name, first and last. Turns out he was talking to somebody else, with the same first and last name, who happened to live in the same town & go to the same store, except he was ~16 years at the time. Nowadays I know that there are about 15 people with my first and last name in the Netherlands, so I'm not too confused when somebody sends me a wedding invitation for somebody I've never heard of 🙂
I had that happen to me at a restaurant waiting for a table. Hostess came out and said my last name and I stood up and so did another fella. She then said my first name and his was the same. She then said smoking and I said it’s him. I didn’t introduce myself and regret that fact.
I have a very long, unusual German last name. I was in study hall my senior year in high school. The radio was on and giving the small town police report when I heard that I ran a stop sign and t-boned a police car. No, I did not. I drove my car to school today. Of course, everyone was giving me a hard time about the wreck. After some research, we found out it was my father's cousin that went by his middle name. His first name that was on his license was the same as my first name.
I had a person with the same name who worked for the same company quit in another state. It ruined my benefits for a short while because they confused me with them.
Our insurance broker regularly mixes up employee enrollments and terminations based on last name only, not even looking at the first name or SSN. There is no excuse for this to not be corrected immediately.
@@johnp139The SSN will be in there somewhere, but if a company fires John Smith I think it's a safe bet the first step isn't making sure they have the SSN for the correct John Smith and then using the SSN for everything. Somebody fire John Smith and reports to to a superior or HR and odds are they just keep using the name to locate all of the records they need to deal with.
Years ago I acted for a man falsely arrested by Police, in the process of arrest, the Police so badly assaulted the man he was effectively blinded in one eye. Later litigation disclosed that there was an outstanding warrant for a man with the same first and last name, not the same middle name and not the same birthday. The action was “rapidly” settled, the only real debate was quantum.
That response may have held some substance EXCEPT the Police had already checked his Drivers License against their on board Police Computer, which clearly showed a different Birthdate AND. Different middle name AND the CCTV camera from the Hotel opposite hadn’t shown the man climbing into the Police Paddy Wagon when requested by one Police Office and the other Police Officer “King” hitting him from behind. Btw, that Police Officer was involved in a child in custody fatality a few months later, the Police simply don’t learn.@@MrTruckerf
I had someone with my same name (spelled differently) and birthday (different year) use my insurance for an ambulance ride. I guess the ambulance driver just got the name and birthday and somehow charged my insurance. I told my insurance company twice that it wasn't me that used the ambulance but it never came off my history. I didn't have to pay anything so I figured if they didn't care about removing it I wouldn't press the issue.
Someone with my same name was a convicted felon from the same city where I grew up. He had warrants and was 10 years older than me so every time I got pulled over by police would make me wait while they confirmed the birthday.
In 1989 I went to the annual fly in in Oshkosh Wisconsin. When looking at the program I saw that Paul Stough was presenting a seminar of weather relating to flying. I had a couple of days to brush up on the topic, until I realized it was another Paul Stough. :) I did meet him and we are distant relatives.
Not a surprise that two Stoughs are related. The question is, how do you pronounce Stough? If people ever get you two mixed up, do you tell people you're the real Stough? Or is it more like stow or stew or stowe?
I have a very unusual name. My name is Robert Franklin Lucht. Years ago, I bought into a mail order offer of a genealogy of my family. I paid 40 or 50 dollars and received a book in the mail. That book was not a genealogy of my family, but rather a compilation of magazine mailing lists from a number of publications. I found it rather interesting to find that there were 35 people on the list that all had exactly the same three names. I was a Professional Engineer. When the internet was new and google was rather new, I thought I was just entering my name, but found that I was googling myself. A whole list of publications came up, many of them were postings on my employer's website. Amazingly, there were three people who all had the exact three names as me, who were also Professional Engineers. One was a Texas Aggies professor and one was a professor at Duke. Amazing.
My name is also unusual. My father bought a similar book to yours that included general information about genealogy with scores of pages in the middle of the book listing names and addresses of other people named Hammerly who lived in the USA. We recognized a few relatives in Michigan and California who had emigrated from Argentina, but most people on that list were descended from ancestors who had emigrated from Switzerland directly to the USA unlike our family who took the South American detour. When Americans claim to be a fifth generation immigrant, they mean that their family immigrated five generations ago. However, my family went back and forth between Switzerland and Argentina, so if I become an immigrant, I'll be the fifth generation in a row to do so -- In fact, my father was an immigrant twice, as a six month old baby from Uruguay to Argentina, then as an adult to the USA. My name is rare enough that I'm unlikely to run across someone with my name unless one of my distant cousins from Uruguay has immigrated to the USA (our families split up for religious reasons with my family becoming Protestant and theirs likely still being Catholic). 🤓
On the first day of my PhD program, across the hall from my first class was a plaque on the wall indicating the office was for a professor with my exact name with the same middle initial followed by PhD.
I had the same thing happen to me. Someone with my name was on the same plane as me, the other was on a stand by ticket and they went to remove him but removed me instead. They realized their mistake after they removed me and then booked me on a first class flight a few hours later.
Please note how many of these stories have one "good" doppelganger and one "bad" doppelganger. Someone with no criminal record is constantly mistaken for their doppelganger who has a rather long rap sheet. Coincidence? I don't believe so. Something is going on.
The Joint Commission, formerly known as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, began requiring two identifiers to be used in identifying patients as a part of their National Patient Safety Goals back in 2003.
Haha. My bank declared me dead by mistake once and shut down (cleared) all my accounts but the one I share with my son. It was a panicked few minutes until it was figured out, then everything was put to rights.
In Naknek Alaska. Our boss was Jake Custer(yes a descendant of George Custer), & my work partner Jake Joachim. Custer= Big Jake, Younger Jake =little Jake, funny thing = they were BOTH over 6' tall HA!
I had a meat tag tattooed on my left torso while in the corps. For many years after the military I was living below the poverty line. At the beach someone suggested I could have my I.D. stolen. I told them that they're welcome to it.
Here is some irony for ya @Steve Lehto! Back in 1994, I was in the US Navy and got a Emergency Red Cross message. The Message was to let me know that my Grandmothers passing was immanent. I was on the USS Independence CV-62 and we were participating in Operation Southern Watch in the Gulf. With some coercing, I took some leave to go home and see her on more time. On my journey, I was laid over at Heathrow just outside of London. I went and took a taxi into town to gather the sites of the city for a few hours. Upon my return to the airport, I went to check on flights that could have open seats to get back to the US. Flying Standby was much different then than how it is now. I found a flight into Philadelphia was the soonest to get back stateside. It was to leave in about 4 ½ hours. I went to a restaurant that had a bar and decided to get some food and a drink or two. After about and hour I went to use the restroom, as I walked into the bathroom I bumped shoulders with a fella that had a striking resemblance to myself! We both stopped and stared at each other and I stated with compete disbelief, “Hey, you look like my brother!” He replied almost instantly, “Hello, Are you trying to look like me Mate?” We both laughed and I asked if he had time to get a drink. He said he had about 3 hour till his flight! So we sat at the bar and found out he was on the same flight to Philly that I was going to be on! I wished I had a camera that day! He was my twin to be sure! We joked that one of our mother had twins and gave one up for adoption. He was from Australia and I was from The US. It was a great flight! We have kept in touch for many years until he past away in 2007. Guess Heathrow is a meeting point for Doppelgangers!!
I live in a city of about 250K. Years ago, I went to the library to view my birth announcement in some microfilm archives. There were only two babies born on that day. Recently I was out with some friends who began talking to other people we had just met. The conversation of Zodiac signs came up. One girl said she was a July baby. I said "Me too," and asked her what day. It was the same as mine. I told her that she was younger than me and she told me the year. I just met the person I had seen in the archive that I share the same birthday with.
I have several doplegangers. Never met them, but have been called by various names and people are surprised that I am not those people. Note this is in the US and the UK.
I too thought I was an only one with my name. I was suspicious when I followed up a message to say my passport was ready to collect at X post office. I rang the post office to say it was not me but didn’t hear back. Many years later I presented tickets for a Goldfields train tour in central Victoria (Australia). Volunteer there said he went to school with a girl who had the same name. I found that there was indeed another with the same name, approximately the same age (just a little bit older) than me. She ran a cat breeding / boarding facility in a rural area. I have never had any interest in cats.
@JediJan We were at a restaurant, and my 3 year old pointed out our waitress and said mommy she has the same name. At first, I thought he couldn't read, but when she came back, I saw her name tag. Spelled the same and everything. 😆
I received a stream of invective from a woman on the website formerly known as Twitter for the misdeeds of a man who had the same first and last name as me. This person was from Utah and I've never been to Utah. I checked on Facebook and there are at least 15 people in Utah who share the same first and last name with me.
@@karezaalonso7110 They should throw one at you for such bad jokes. I grew up with Mormons and never caught anything from them. There are at least 28 people with the same name as myself.
One day, years ago, when I arrived at work, my co-workers were surprised to see that I was alive and well. They were told I died, as a distant relative of mine that I didn't know I had, had died the previous evening from an accident. They thought it was me! Same full name.
Many years ago, I had 2 patients in the hospital. They had the same first, middle, last names and shared the same month & day of birth. The only difference was the year. They ended up being an excellent example to future patients as to why we ask people to say their name & full birthdate to help properly identify the right patient for the right medication or treatment.
In my 20s there were 2 other guys with my first and last name in the same rural Midwest county of 70k people. Its not a common name like smith or anything. 2 were white, 1 was Black, and there was a 30 year age range. None of us were related, I was born here and the other 2 were GM work transplants from other states, and we all went to the same doctor. Was funny when we had appointments at the same time. Thats how we found out about each other.
I had a similar encounter. I was sitting in my work office (I was in charge of a mechanical shop) and an oil company salesman came in for the very first time. The first thing he did was hand me his car. I took it and looked at it and without saying a word I handed him my card. The look on his face was priceless!! Same first name, last, and middle initial. He did get our oil business and back then (and still today) if you look up our name, he will appear first on a Google search and mine second. Sadly, he passed away at a fairly young age and when our home office saw his obituary, they thought I had died!!
When I was at college, there was a mixup with my Student Loan, turns out there were two of us with the same first, middle and last names AND the same day and month of birth, the other guy was a year older.
I met a doppelganger once. His name is Brian and the nephew of a client. I was at my client's place when Brian walked in. It was like looking in a mirror. We have the same hobbies and similar interests, but he is about 7 years younger. He was about a half-inch taller but I assured him that he would get shorter in the next 7 years like I did. I saw him again at his aunt's funeral, and people were confused as to who was who. He's a good guy, and I miss the client. Good people.
Body doubles, when the Soviet Union was conducting maneuvers on the Polish border attempting to influence or intimidate Solidarity a BMP went by with one of the guys that worked for me sitting on the deck. I suspect their names weren't even close, but the physical resemblance was uncanny. I would have mistaken him for my work mate if I had happened upon him in the world.
I had a younger guy in town with my exact name. At the doctor's office and the bank we also used a naming convention. I was Jon F Eastmond senior and he was Jon F Eastmond junior. I didn't know he existed till my bank account wasn't accurate and I got medical records reciting none of my medical issues. I walked up to the guy and said; "Hi, Jon Eastmond. My name's Jon Eastmond!" We sorted out life. Which was rather annoying.
Exactly, my SIL had the same name as me, born same year but different month and day, they mixed our records together at the GYN, suddenly I had been pregnant and married, never did get that straightened out. Mind you this is pre computer records! But since I have been married I now have a more common last name and get another persons meds at the pharmacy on multiple occasions. Since we have moved it's been better because someone with my name works at the pharmacy I use
I had the opposite happen. I had just been honorably discharged and still had a military ID when I went through airport security. Handed TSA my ID and they pulled me out of the line for questioning. They didn't like that my military ID showed me having a middle initial, while none of my other paperwork did (I don't have a middle name). Thankfully the TSA supervisor was also a veteran who didn't have a middle name either, and knew exactly what the military had done: assigned me a middle name of "NMI," which stands for "No Middle Initial."
My dad was in the military with a guy whose name was R. P. Jones. The initials did not stand for a longer name. The military couldn't deal with that, so he was known as R.only P.only Jones.
@@MimisTreasureCottage I’ve got a couple of great uncles who are R P and W L. When I was a kid I asked what the initials stood for and found out that their given names were just letters.
I have friended two other Donna Vande Zandes who are on Facebook. All three of us married the name. Our husbands are from the same community. One has since passed on. 😢 Two of us worked for the same big box store but in different cities. In junior high, a girl had moved into the area who greatly resembled me. We looked enough alike that teachers would be confused. Nothing like talking in class, while the other person has their hand raised to give the answer, and the teacher calls MY name. Several times!
I once went to a comedy club and the last comedian was exactly like a co-worker. He looked like him, talked like him, laughed like him, and even had the same sense of humor. This was before cell phones so there was no way to take his photo or record his voice, and I forgot to note his name. I asked my co-worker on Monday if he had any comedians in the family and he said no.
While serving in the UA Army, I was stationed once with another service member who was my double. Once my youngest daughter ran to him and hugged him thinking it was me. When she heard his voice you should have seen the look on her face. Once his wife saw me from about 30 feet away and though that I was her husband. He said she gave him he'll for ignoring her when she called out and I paid no attention to her. Had a god laugh about that.
My husband subbed at a school where his doppelganger was a student. Obviously they were decades apart in age but apparently they were so similar that the boy's mother mistook my husband for her son. She came across the room to speak to him and it wasn't until she got very close that she realized her mistake. Freaked her out a bit!
My wife has a very common name. She had foot surgery recently and after she checked in and was escorted to the OR, I waited for her in the lobby. Then I watched as a woman with the same name checked in for surgery…on the other foot! I joked to her that she might want to make sure they’re doing the correct foot… When my wife emerged from the after-surgery groggy-ness she said they kept saying they wanted to do the wrong foot…until finally they wrote on her ankle with a Sharpie. Not surprisingly, since then there has been a billing debacle and during a follow up she was even shown the wrong x-ray…
I was in Australia on business, went to check into hotel. The clerk said Mr. McMillan, you already checked in. I said not me, I just got off the airplane. The clerk said you checked in an hour ago. I said not me, do you have a room for me and yes they did...
Reminds me of…. Two Minor League Baseball pitchers with the exact same name - and eerily similar looks - took a DNA test to find out if they’re actually related after years of being confused for one another. The NY Post reports Brady Feigl, 32, who is a player for the Long Island Ducks, looks nearly identical to the other Brady Feigl, 27, who plays for the Las Vegas Aviators. The pair both measure up at 6 feet, four inches tall, have fiery red hair and wear glasses.
The only other person I met with my first and last name played MLB for my hometown Tigers for a short time. I saw him at the airport showing him my drivers licenses and at this time he was back in the minors. Turning to his team mates like a kid “ look, we have the same name, no way!” 🙂
There is a rather small town 25 miles from where I live that happens to be their county seat. When I was in my early thirties I would go there ocasionally. Total strangers would be inexplicably rude to me. One time I went into a shop and waited at the counter. The owner looked up at me then proceeded to deliberately ignore me until I got the hint and left. I finaly got the story when I walked into a tavern one afternoon. A guy at the bar looked genuinely afraid when he saw me, like he wanted to run away. When he saw I was with someone he knew, he got really confused. Turned out I was a dead ringer for an assistant DA at the courthouse who was, to put it kindly, extremely disliked by many of the locals.
I served in an Navy squadron aboard the USS Ranger back in 1992- 93. I served with four other Paul Smiths. we would get together about once a week and exchange mail and unfortunately laundry. All I have to say is thank goodness for mesh laundry bags.
Twilight Zone in the outback.... Driving my family up to see the grandparents we stopped to refuel in a small outback town. I was driving in my trusty ol Valiant & happened to notice another Val same year model same colour... A fellow was standing there alongside his Val, hood up, obviously broken down. I asked him whats up, I'm pretty familiar with these, can I help. He said all good... it sometimes overheats. I said, its pretty rare to see 2 identical old cars, next to each other, middle of nowhere. Sure is he laughed. I asked, lets check how far apart their VINs are? He held his cars rego papers so i could note his cars VIN. Wow. I blurted out, on noticing his name... "your surname is my christian name"... Perry!!!! Then... Holy crap... the cars VIN were 5 Nos. apart! built same day!!! some 20yrs earlier. He then enquired... where you guys heading! Oh small mining town called Sapphire, not far... He said, oh I was up there month ago, mining for gems, who do you know up there? Well my mum Betty lives there with her partner Greg... The world suddenly tilted on its axis... The guy said, last month up in Sapphire he was out fossicking for gemstone with Greg & after Betty gave him a haircut... Mum used to be a hairdresser.
I once parked in my regular shopping mall car park, did my shopping as usual, unloaded my trolley into the back of my car, and returned my trolley to recover my £1 deposit. I returned to my car, got in, and slipped my key into the ignition. Just before starting her up, a nagging doubt in my subconscious told me something wasn't quite right. Pausing for a moment, I realised my car had a perfumed scent to it. I looked, and noticed a scent tree hanging from the rear-view mirror, along with some other trinket. Those weren't there before. How did they get there? Then I noticed some other trinkets, and the world tilted on its axis. Very sheepishly, I hastily got out of my car's doppelganger, and got into my own car. Why hadn't they locked their doors? At least I had unloaded my shopping into the right car. I drove off as if nothing had happened, but still reeling.
Hi @CrowPal, that used to happen a lot back in the day when I was a kid. The other person didn't leave their car unlocked/ You were able to unlock the other person's car door with your car key. However, you couldn't turn the ignition on with your key if the cars were the same make, model and color.
I was stationed in S. Dakota and met another Airman with the same name as me. He told me how the base bank accidentally put my car loan on his account, which answered the confusion i had a few years earlier when i tried to pay my first loan payment and the bank couldn't find my loan on my account.
Had a similar thing happen at the State Fair in the 80's. They announced the winner of a truck being given away. My name announced. Well, it turned out there were two other people with the same name there and all of us had entered. None of knew until we all showed up to "claim" the truck. Sadly, it was not me once they looked at the address.
I've had a similar situation. I moved to Boulder, CO, and within a few weeks someone came by with a petition and asked me to sign it. Surprisingly the last name on the list was MY NAME (but not my signature). Turns out my next door neighbor has the same name as me...and we shared some of the same friends. We don't look alike though.
Friend got held up in customs in The Netherlands because the person in front of them was a red headed kid named Harry Potter. They thought it was fake credentials.
I was at a scifi convention in the early 80's. Over the intercom came a call for Walter Willis to go to customer service. I show up and another guy shows up - turns out he was an author and his editor was calling him.
I had a coworker who unfortunately had the same name, nearly the same age, and greatly resembled a criminal. She got pulled over for a traffic violation and was arrested for the other woman’s warrant! It took days to straighten out (fingerprints). She now has to carry around a letter from the police district explaining the situation in case she should get pulled over again.
Remember back when the Oprah show was big, a woman was arrested for murder. The murderer had the same name, but lived in a different state and was a different race. Took innocent person spent weeks in jail before she was able to prove they had the wrong person.
Similar story. I moved and a new phone book came out. People trying to contact me called a guy with the same name. Eventually my name double contacted me and we talked about credit bureaus. We both had good credit.
I looked up the story on Google. There is a picture of both men together and other than being bald they don’t look alike to me. but it is strange. They were both on the same flight and had so many similarities.
Great video. I worked at a furniture factory. In the office was me Maryann, head office lady was Marianne and there was also a Marion. All of us worked in the office. Both Marion and I had to change our names when answering the phones.
Back when my older brother went to high school they used to sort homeroom classes alphabetically by last name, until it resulted in an entire homeroom of Smiths.
I got sent to Cyprus on Operation Platypus (UN peacekeeping) in the 1970's (Turkey's invasion of Cyprus); Thought I was a Radio Technician when I was a GD! - I could change a plug, but not fix a radio...
This happened to me in a hospital! I went in for a simple surgical procedure and once in my room I asked the nurse for my pre-surgery antibiotics due to a heart issue... Long story short, another woman was in the room next door for the same procedure... she had my same name. and we were both from Chicago. She was a PHD in science, My dream was to be a scientist, it just went on from there. I wish our finances would get mixed up so she can pay some of my debts and fix my credit score so I can have my life back.
Had court leans on my income tax returns. Didnt take long after calling that a different person with my name in Edmonton (im in Calgary) and it was quickly resolved thankfully, because goverbment beauraucracy is usually slow.
My name sake lived in same voting precinct until he passed away. Never met but his death caused great concern with my mother when his death was announced and several people sent there condolences to her
Where I used to work we had 5 Steve Johnson’s. They used to get invited to the wrong meetings, get the wrong packages etc. Steve3 (that was his email), my colleague, told me they had a monthly “Steve” meeting to sort out stuff…he took his wife’s last name when they got married…
Back in 2004 there were 4 of me (looked alike) in town. One worked at the College, one with the same first name owned a bar, one was a carpenter with a black 85 Corvette and I had a black 84 Corvette at the time.
Back in the 80's I got permission from the university admin where I worked to create an online phone directory and got a list of faculty+staff+students and stuffed it in a database and created a UI for it (when this was ground-breaking stuff). And in the process I noticed every semester there were two or three pairs of students with the exact same first, middle, last name. And in one case they even came from little 1000 person hometowns within 15 miles of each other and were a year apart in age. Never stumbled on any same name+birthday twins. But with a larger than 30,000 person set of names to work with, there are guaranteed to be exact duplicates (hurray for the birthday paradox--which also works as the birthday+name paradox). And the most common last name on campus was Johnson. Smith was #2 or 3.
During my last year in high school I had a cousin over in the next town who was killed in an automobile accident on a Friday night. He was my age and we shared the same first and last name. When I arrived at school the following Monday, my teachers and school friends had heard about the accident and had just assumed that it was me. There were quite a a few startled looks and dropped books that day.
I was auditing enrollment records for an elementary school and came across three first grade students with the exact same name, first middle and last. They had successive student I.D. numbers, were all in the same grade and were born in three successive years. I went out to investigate on site and found they were siblings whose father had named each of them for himself; one was two years below grade level, one was one year below grade level and the youngest was at grade level. Their father, it seems, was proud of his name, but apparently felt parental responsibility ended once the baby was born and named to assuage his ego.
When I was about 13 or 14 (circa 1990), I went to a dental appointment to be told I had already checked in. The other guy with my name was a blond-haired blue-eyed man probably in his late 30s. A few years later, during the age of multi-line dial-up BBSes, I was chatting with a girl my age who said I had the same name as her dad. After comparing notes I realized she was the daughter of the man I had seen at the dentist years earlier.
The Daily Fail, the Daily Fibber and the Daily Excuse. If you read any of those, London Bridge is up for sale and I have exclusive rights to sell it. Interested?
My father had a bill collector after him for medical bills. He got the records for the visit, and it was the same name, but different race. When he brought up that fact, they accused him of being a racist.
Reminds me of one of my favorite documentaries where a man named korbin dallas won a vacation and someone tried to board the flight with the same name. All hell broke lose.
This actually happened to me. I was in line at the check-in behind a person with the same name. We were on the same flight, seated across the isle from each other. It creeped me out a little.
I know of 9 "Doppelgangers" by apellation, and at least 2 of them are on parole. One has an email address one character different from mine. Makes it difficult to get approved for a gun purchase without a whole bunch of hassle.
One year I got a Christmas card from someone I didn't know, addressed to me, Clarence and Maria. My grandfather Clarence had been dead for decades and I didn't know of a Maria in our family. So, I looked in the phone book and there was another man, same name, correct spelling, that lived only 6 blocks away! The person that had sent the card picked me instead of the other man! Fast forward a couple decades and I was buying furniture at a local retailer and when I went to check out the sales person asked if I was from Pueblo. I said no, I was from Aurora. He showed me the computer screen and we too had the exact same name. All these years I thought I was the only Grant Oakes in the entire world since my first and last name were not very common and the two put together would make it extremely unlikely! As for my doppelganger, good thing that the 80's-90's jazz singer Michael Franks doesn't have my name since we look like twins!
I'm sorry to hear about your death. I'm glad you are feeling better.
"I got better"
You're lucky.
Most who get turned into newts by wooden witches (who weigh the same as a duck) never recover.
lol 😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
"Did you die?"
- "Yes! But I lived!"
My wife woke up to the clock radio, that announced that I was dead. I have the same name as a local newspaper editor.
The only positive, was that we stopped receiving his death threats!
great way to get to stop paying income taxes...!
😮
Uhm... Police say he died of suspicious circumstances
They should have a DNA test to see if they are related.
Well, if your last name is Connor and you have a daughter named Sarah, then you'll have bigger problem than death threat. 🤣
This happened to my friend's dad. Turned out to be his identical twin separated at adoption!
Seriously……..that’s awesome 😊🇺🇸
Wow!
😮
Amazing!
Our family traveled to Italy with my husband’s parents. When we were checking in to the return flight, they would not allow both my husband and his father on the flight bc they had the same name. They have a striking resemblance, and both had their passports. We six were all waiting around the desk, obviously a family. They made them choose which one was going to fly home. Finally at the very last minute, someone found a few of their missing brain cells and let us all on the flight. It had gone on for at least an hour.
Worked at a casino. They were holding a rememberance for someone who passed away. He had the same name as me. My fellow employees were stunned when I showed up for work that night.
Note to jurors: beware of prosecutors offering "what are the odds" arguments as "scientific" 😂 !
That's why they probably don't want mathematicians on the juror pool. They might actually know the odds! Like with 20 or 21 people in a room, the odds of someone having the same birthday is already like 50%.
Oh absolutely! Matt Parker, stand up mathematician (math comedian), has videos about this exact thing. Specifically about married couples finding childhood photos with their future spouse in the background. I.e. a family vacation to Disney parks and there is a stroller with future spouse in the background. What are the odds that would happen to the?? Incredibly slim. The question asked less often is what are the odds that would happen at all? Even if an event has a low probability, if there are enough chances then it is still bound to happen.
For example, what if there was a 1 billion sided die. Pick your favorite number, and it has 1/1e9 chances of coming up. Very very slim odds of that happening. However if everyone of earth rolled (what are we up to? 7bil, 9 bil?) then we should expect your magic number to be rolled 7-9 times.
In short, if there are enough chances for a very low probability event to happen, we can expect it to happen.
Looool, don’t muddy the waters, though. Outliers always exist and can sometimes be explained. Odds and probability are still useful for scientific calculations.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there's only a 1 in 1 billion chance that the DNA from the crime scene belongs to somebody other than the (dramatically points finger) *defendant*!" So 7 other people, and probably not from some place far away where people have different physical characteristics?
@@callak_9974That’s interesting math. Public school?
My husband *had a doppelganger. Same first middle and last names, same date of birth, born in the same hospital. We don't know what he looked like, we never met him, but we knew there was someone out there, because the guy had gotten into some legal trouble, and my husband was almost arrested for it a few times. The last time we dealt with this, we had been to Canada for a concert, and on our way back, when we got to the border crossing, they had us park and go inside. We sat there for about 45 minutes, and that's when we found out that his doppelganger had actually died. They were very concerned about the fact that there was someone with same name and date of birth that was reported deceased. They photocopied his ID and had to have checks done to make sure it wasn't the same person.
When i was a kid (c.1950) my mother told about a Smith couple who birthed a new son. They named him Tiger. (This was way before T. Woods.)
They apparently were trying to avoid the doppelganger problem that is common among Smiths..
I had a good friend who had almoat the same issue. Guy had unique name like James P. Thorson III. His doppelganger had the same name except the III and was born in the same hospital but with a transposed birth year. Like 76 vs 67.
His doppelganger was deceased but had lifetime of debts, conman activities, petty crimes, and minor felonies. He actually carried around with him a letter from a local magistrate explaining the mixup. It did help the guy was white and he was very much not white. He even had some loan shark wise guy type characters show up once trying to find the guy. They at least knew they were looking for skinny white guy... so better than the police
I have a common name and one of them has my same birthday as well but different state. Found out about him when I first got my driver's license. He had already had his license revoked at 16 and they had to verify my SSN. Caused me problems every time I renewed my license as well. Still not as bad as the wanted felon 10 years older than me from my birth city. Having a common name sucks.
Separated at birth.
@@geoh7777 If they choose Wookalabalabala as his first name, I can guarantee he won't have any doppelganger. 🤔
🤪
About 15 years ago I needed to take a few days off work for my uncle's funeral. You were allowed 3 days but you had to supply a letter from the funeral home to show you weren't a dirty little liar.
Well, turns out the funeral home had the same name as me. The owner was a distant cousin who had the same first and last name as I did.
Needless to say this caused quite a roo at work. When I presented my confirmation letter my boss asked me if this was some kind of joke.
I replied "That's totally a real letter and not something I made up just to get a few days off work."
Later that day I was called into the office. Everyone was there; union rep, 3 formen, our boss, her boss and her bosses boss all waiting to hear how I thought I could get away with something like this.
My defense was, "I know you don't believe the number on the letter is real and as a new business it was not listed in the phone book yet but it should be easy enough to call information and verify it then call the funeral home to double check."
The only thing that would have made this better is if my phone would have rung in my pocket as she made the call.
Excellent! 😊👍
Many years ago I read about two men born in the same hospital on the same day and given the same full name. They were given the same Social Security Number because someone thought the applications were duplicates. This was discovered when they were old enough to work and file taxes. One was notified he had underreported his income.
That's rough lol. How does someone not verify before throwing out a person's application
@@TheGamersRace Arrogance, incompetence, laziness?
@@TheGamersRace I mean if parent's names aren't on the form what else is there to even crosscheck?
9@@pizzaivlife
@@pizzaivlife The endpoints lol
Small world. I remember seeing a story about a man and woman who were about to get married, and they happened to be looking through old photo albums from childhood, and one showed the other a family photo taken during a trip to Disneyland. In the picture, just feet away, was the other person's family! The man and woman crossed paths many years earlier, while being pushed in strollers.
I used to curse my last name for being so foreign and unusual.
Now I see how lucky I am.
I am one among 68
I am very unhappy about it because we used to be almost 30k before communism happened.
Same here. And I'm glad my name is short.
@@angrydragonslayerAccording to the old locate my name site, I'm one of 28. Stalin's minions murdered my Slovakian relatives save for one.
Yep… there are 7 of us. Makes things simple except for the spelling.
One time when my sister was in England she toured this one castle. After the tour was over, she was asked if she could wait a few extra minutes before leaving. The guide then took her into a part of the castle not on the tour. There was a portrait of a woman that look just like my sisters. According to our genealogy we were descended from that same family.
We were on a tour in an Antebellum home in the South and saw a portrait which resembled one of our friends. Took a photo of it and both he and his wife agreed the similarities were startling.
I have an old photo, among my grandmother's family photos, of a little boy that I have no clue who he is. I'd normally discount the photo but he is a DEAD RINGER for my great nephew when he was little.
In High School there was a fellow, who was my "doppelganger". Turns out we are distant cousins, and are ugly in the same way.
Amazing!
@@wilfredvanvalkenburgh2874 😊😂🤣 😉
I'd have to DNA test us ... I'm thinking Dad was a rolling stone
Or distant relatives, I had a 3rd cousin who looked a lot like my brother
Tom McCall who wrote a column for a Mechanics Digest, got a letter from a guy who said, " I look just like you, and I'm about your age. What do you think about that?"
Tom answered, " I think Dad got around, when he owned that motorcycle."
That's what I've been thinking through the whole video. DNA test hasn't crossed their minds; I have no idea why it hasn't.
I look like someone and everyone thought so. Sadly it wasn't Brad Pitt. It was the BTK serial killer.
@@rationalbushcraft I feel for you, that would be a bad draw in the genetic pot
"reMarkable" a great word to use for this story.
happened to my mom. The pilot even noticed and suggested to mom he'd introduse the two. My mom was terrefied and refused. The thing is someone in the gov ofice sold her passport data/copy, and the other person was on the wanted list, leading to my mom being stopped and searched in every airpost she ever visited. The impostor got later caught and sent to prisoner, but my mom would still get stopped. One time she was stopped by a trainee, who asked their trainer, "Hey, is that...?" - "No, she was already caught."
Took a few years for that info to update. Your doubles are DANGEROUS!!!!
Someone started using a friend's SSN. She was retired but income kept being reported. My friend tried reporting the situation to the Social Security office but they didn't care. This friend has sinced passed.
I was in the Navy, stationed in Pearl Harbor. I went to renew my license plate on my car and was told that I had to go to an address they wrote down for me to clear an issue first. I drove to a courthouse, went inside and they told me to pay a fine for the ticket I had before I could renew my plates. I told them that I didn't have any tickets. That called me by my name and said "You're in the Navy right? On the USS Port Royal?
"No, I'm on the USS Russell." I gave them my social security number and they gave me a form stating that everything was clear.
A few years later I was stationed on a small base in Virginia, just 1200 people. I was one of three with the same first, middle, and last name on that base.
I remember in elementary school I was in the same class as another Tyler Petersen vs Tyler Peterson. Quite a few times we had a sub taking attendance and call out "Tyler."
We would respond "Which one?"
He would say "Petersen"
We would respond again "With an e or an o"
Only for the sub to look at roster in confusion it was hilarious.
Middle school English teacher had a class the year before with a bunch of Michael's in it. Something like 7? Anyway, they had different last names so they all got called by their last names.
My current ballroom dance studio has two women with the same name. Both are blonde too, so we can’t just use hair color or something either.
I had a class in high school with a male student named Austin Brown and a female student named Austyn Brown. It was always funny when the office was trying to call for one of them over the intercom.
When I was a small kid (6 years old or so) somebody called out my name, first and last. Turns out he was talking to somebody else, with the same first and last name, who happened to live in the same town & go to the same store, except he was ~16 years at the time.
Nowadays I know that there are about 15 people with my first and last name in the Netherlands, so I'm not too confused when somebody sends me a wedding invitation for somebody I've never heard of 🙂
So who got the better grades and who did detention.
Their DOB’s and passport numbers should have solved this quickly.
I was at a CVS pharmacy where they'd just had two women with the same name AND the identical DOB come in to get prescriptions filled.
What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand! 😂
Im sure they both have 4 more kids there too
What happens in Thailand can flare up occasionally.
Yeah... 80 trips... Someone has an addiction to uh...
Beautiful scenery, amazing food, low priced goods, and fishing for giant fish.@@aaadamt964
I had that happen to me at a restaurant waiting for a table. Hostess came out and said my last name and I stood up and so did another fella. She then said my first name and his was the same. She then said smoking and I said it’s him. I didn’t introduce myself and regret that fact.
I have a very long, unusual German last name. I was in study hall my senior year in high school. The radio was on and giving the small town police report when I heard that I ran a stop sign and t-boned a police car. No, I did not. I drove my car to school today. Of course, everyone was giving me a hard time about the wreck. After some research, we found out it was my father's cousin that went by his middle name. His first name that was on his license was the same as my first name.
I had a person with the same name who worked for the same company quit in another state. It ruined my benefits for a short while because they confused me with them.
same here and he used to get my wage every month :/ took 3 months to sort out lol
Our insurance broker regularly mixes up employee enrollments and terminations based on last name only, not even looking at the first name or SSN. There is no excuse for this to not be corrected immediately.
And some people think it's a hassle getting a work email address when there's a Steve Smith and a Scott Smith.
Isn’t that based on SSN???
@@johnp139The SSN will be in there somewhere, but if a company fires John Smith I think it's a safe bet the first step isn't making sure they have the SSN for the correct John Smith and then using the SSN for everything. Somebody fire John Smith and reports to to a superior or HR and odds are they just keep using the name to locate all of the records they need to deal with.
Years ago I acted for a man falsely arrested by Police, in the process of arrest, the Police so badly assaulted the man he was effectively blinded in one eye. Later litigation disclosed that there was an outstanding warrant for a man with the same first and last name, not the same middle name and not the same birthday. The action was “rapidly” settled, the only real debate was quantum.
He should not have resisted. He brought it all on himself. The police investigated and determined they acted appropriately.
That response may have held some substance EXCEPT the Police had already checked his Drivers License against their on board Police Computer, which clearly showed a different Birthdate AND. Different middle name AND the CCTV camera from the Hotel opposite hadn’t shown the man climbing into the Police Paddy Wagon when requested by one Police Office and the other Police Officer “King” hitting him from behind. Btw, that Police Officer was involved in a child in custody fatality a few months later, the Police simply don’t learn.@@MrTruckerf
@@MrTruckerf Are you for real, it don't work that way. Why do you blame the victim?
@@williamjackson5942could be sarcasm
@@MrTruckerfYou need to be more careful when your audience is stupid.
I was buying a car once and found out that someone with my exact same name had horrible credit.
Sadly, I had the same problem!
Someone with the same name had purchased a time share and was in arrears. The collections agency wanted me to pay.
Ok, so I lied! When I got rejected, the credit company sent me a letter that just said LOL! I thought that was rude! 😀
I had someone with my same name (spelled differently) and birthday (different year) use my insurance for an ambulance ride. I guess the ambulance driver just got the name and birthday and somehow charged my insurance. I told my insurance company twice that it wasn't me that used the ambulance but it never came off my history. I didn't have to pay anything so I figured if they didn't care about removing it I wouldn't press the issue.
Someone with my same name was a convicted felon from the same city where I grew up. He had warrants and was 10 years older than me so every time I got pulled over by police would make me wait while they confirmed the birthday.
In 1989 I went to the annual fly in in Oshkosh Wisconsin. When looking at the program I saw that Paul Stough was presenting a seminar of weather relating to flying. I had a couple of days to brush up on the topic, until I realized it was another Paul Stough. :) I did meet him and we are distant relatives.
Not a surprise that two Stoughs are related. The question is, how do you pronounce Stough? If people ever get you two mixed up, do you tell people you're the real Stough? Or is it more like stow or stew or stowe?
@@jguenther3049Spelled like tough, rimes with cow. You would be surprised how many people who put an "r" in our name, making in Strough. :),
@@paulstough2995Thanks! I enjoy studying names. They often carry with them some history.
I have a very unusual name. My name is Robert Franklin Lucht. Years ago, I bought into a mail order offer of a genealogy of my family. I paid 40 or 50 dollars and received a book in the mail. That book was not a genealogy of my family, but rather a compilation of magazine mailing lists from a number of publications. I found it rather interesting to find that there were 35 people on the list that all had exactly the same three names. I was a Professional Engineer. When the internet was new and google was rather new, I thought I was just entering my name, but found that I was googling myself. A whole list of publications came up, many of them were postings on my employer's website. Amazingly, there were three people who all had the exact three names as me, who were also Professional Engineers. One was a Texas Aggies professor and one was a professor at Duke. Amazing.
My name is also unusual. My father bought a similar book to yours that included general information about genealogy with scores of pages in the middle of the book listing names and addresses of other people named Hammerly who lived in the USA. We recognized a few relatives in Michigan and California who had emigrated from Argentina, but most people on that list were descended from ancestors who had emigrated from Switzerland directly to the USA unlike our family who took the South American detour.
When Americans claim to be a fifth generation immigrant, they mean that their family immigrated five generations ago. However, my family went back and forth between Switzerland and Argentina, so if I become an immigrant, I'll be the fifth generation in a row to do so -- In fact, my father was an immigrant twice, as a six month old baby from Uruguay to Argentina, then as an adult to the USA.
My name is rare enough that I'm unlikely to run across someone with my name unless one of my distant cousins from Uruguay has immigrated to the USA (our families split up for religious reasons with my family becoming Protestant and theirs likely still being Catholic). 🤓
On the first day of my PhD program, across the hall from my first class was a plaque on the wall indicating the office was for a professor with my exact name with the same middle initial followed by PhD.
Instead of Mark Two, they should have gone for Mark Twain 😆
😂❤😂❤
Yeah, Mark 1 sounds like a prototype.
Aaaahhh! So I'm not the only one who noticed that! 😍😍
Or Mark II could go as Samuel.
If they were from Boston it could have been Mach 2.
I had the same thing happen to me. Someone with my name was on the same plane as me, the other was on a stand by ticket and they went to remove him but removed me instead. They realized their mistake after they removed me and then booked me on a first class flight a few hours later.
Your lucky they owned up to making a mistake.
Just a glitch.
The matrix having to use the same graphics because the sever is getting so full.
Y2K problems plague AI civilizations too
Facts😅
Please note how many of these stories have one "good" doppelganger and one "bad" doppelganger. Someone with no criminal record is constantly mistaken for their doppelganger who has a rather long rap sheet.
Coincidence? I don't believe so. Something is going on.
@@freeinghumanitynowWhat if your name is Raymond Reddington?
People, some day soon, need to wake up to clones and replicas everywhere
The Joint Commission, formerly known as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, began requiring two identifiers to be used in identifying patients as a part of their National Patient Safety Goals back in 2003.
The rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated
Haha. My bank declared me dead by mistake once and shut down (cleared) all my accounts but the one I share with my son. It was a panicked few minutes until it was figured out, then everything was put to rights.
Paypal turned me over to probate when they knew I was alive & kicking. Have refused to deal with them since...
A wonderful story to share with us. Thank you Steve. In my circle we had a "Big Mike" and "Small Mike"
In Naknek Alaska. Our boss was Jake Custer(yes a descendant of George Custer), & my work partner Jake Joachim. Custer= Big Jake, Younger Jake =little Jake, funny thing = they were BOTH over 6' tall HA!
My deepest heartfelt condolences to any doppelgangers I may have out there, the universe is a cruel place if it created more than one of me.
I had a meat tag tattooed on my left torso while in the corps. For many years after the military I was living below the poverty line. At the beach someone suggested I could have my I.D. stolen. I told them that they're welcome to it.
Here is some irony for ya @Steve Lehto! Back in 1994, I was in the US Navy and got a Emergency Red Cross message. The Message was to let me know that my Grandmothers passing was immanent. I was on the USS Independence CV-62 and we were participating in Operation Southern Watch in the Gulf. With some coercing, I took some leave to go home and see her on more time. On my journey, I was laid over at Heathrow just outside of London. I went and took a taxi into town to gather the sites of the city for a few hours. Upon my return to the airport, I went to check on flights that could have open seats to get back to the US. Flying Standby was much different then than how it is now. I found a flight into Philadelphia was the soonest to get back stateside. It was to leave in about 4 ½ hours. I went to a restaurant that had a bar and decided to get some food and a drink or two. After about and hour I went to use the restroom, as I walked into the bathroom I bumped shoulders with a fella that had a striking resemblance to myself! We both stopped and stared at each other and I stated with compete disbelief, “Hey, you look like my brother!” He replied almost instantly, “Hello, Are you trying to look like me Mate?” We both laughed and I asked if he had time to get a drink. He said he had about 3 hour till his flight! So we sat at the bar and found out he was on the same flight to Philly that I was going to be on! I wished I had a camera that day! He was my twin to be sure! We joked that one of our mother had twins and gave one up for adoption. He was from Australia and I was from The US. It was a great flight! We have kept in touch for many years until he past away in 2007. Guess Heathrow is a meeting point for Doppelgangers!!
Like a real live Monty Python sketch 😂
I live in a city of about 250K. Years ago, I went to the library to view my birth announcement in some microfilm archives. There were only two babies born on that day. Recently I was out with some friends who began talking to other people we had just met. The conversation of Zodiac signs came up. One girl said she was a July baby. I said "Me too," and asked her what day. It was the same as mine. I told her that she was younger than me and she told me the year. I just met the person I had seen in the archive that I share the same birthday with.
I have several doplegangers. Never met them, but have been called by various names and people are surprised that I am not those people. Note this is in the US and the UK.
I always hated my name growing up. I've only met one other in my 63 years.
Thanks Mom ❤ you were right as always 😊
More unique names are a great idea , as long as they are not too odd for the child/ person
I too thought I was an only one with my name. I was suspicious when I followed up a message to say my passport was ready to collect at X post office. I rang the post office to say it was not me but didn’t hear back. Many years later I presented tickets for a Goldfields train tour in central Victoria (Australia). Volunteer there said he went to school with a girl who had the same name. I found that there was indeed another with the same name, approximately the same age (just a little bit older) than me. She ran a cat breeding / boarding facility in a rural area. I have never had any interest in cats.
@JediJan We were at a restaurant, and my 3 year old pointed out our waitress and said mommy she has the same name. At first, I thought he couldn't read, but when she came back, I saw her name tag. Spelled the same and everything. 😆
I received a stream of invective from a woman on the website formerly known as Twitter for the misdeeds of a man who had the same first and last name as me. This person was from Utah and I've never been to Utah. I checked on Facebook and there are at least 15 people in Utah who share the same first and last name with me.
Utah is a strange place, and often strange people. If you go there you might catch LDS. Also lots of holy rocks.
@@karezaalonso7110 They should throw one at you for such bad jokes. I grew up with Mormons and never caught anything from them. There are at least 28 people with the same name as myself.
@@tedmoss Your reasoning is quite sound, unassailable logic. Pravo
One day, years ago, when I arrived at work, my co-workers were surprised to see that I was alive and well. They were told I died, as a distant relative of mine that I didn't know I had, had died the previous evening from an accident. They thought it was me! Same full name.
Even the robot lady's doppelganger appeared at end of video
Many years ago, I had 2 patients in the hospital. They had the same first, middle, last names and shared the same month & day of birth. The only difference was the year. They ended up being an excellent example to future patients as to why we ask people to say their name & full birthdate to help properly identify the right patient for the right medication or treatment.
In my 20s there were 2 other guys with my first and last name in the same rural Midwest county of 70k people. Its not a common name like smith or anything. 2 were white, 1 was Black, and there was a 30 year age range. None of us were related, I was born here and the other 2 were GM work transplants from other states, and we all went to the same doctor. Was funny when we had appointments at the same time. Thats how we found out about each other.
*Sorry Steve, I didn't have time register, and since you were very late to the race I didn't think you'd show.* 😁
Interesting that it was the Mirror carrying the story.
Nice.
Yes, good catch 🙂
Yeah, that made me chuckle when Steve said it.
well spotted
They carried it daily
I had a similar encounter. I was sitting in my work office (I was in charge of a mechanical shop) and an oil company salesman came in for the very first time. The first thing he did was hand me his car. I took it and looked at it and without saying a word I handed him my card. The look on his face was priceless!! Same first name, last, and middle initial. He did get our oil business and back then (and still today) if you look up our name, he will appear first on a Google search and mine second. Sadly, he passed away at a fairly young age and when our home office saw his obituary, they thought I had died!!
When I was at college, there was a mixup with my Student Loan, turns out there were two of us with the same first, middle and last names AND the same day and month of birth, the other guy was a year older.
So... did you get him to pay for your loan?
I met a doppelganger once. His name is Brian and the nephew of a client. I was at my client's place when Brian walked in. It was like looking in a mirror. We have the same hobbies and similar interests, but he is about 7 years younger. He was about a half-inch taller but I assured him that he would get shorter in the next 7 years like I did. I saw him again at his aunt's funeral, and people were confused as to who was who. He's a good guy, and I miss the client. Good people.
Body doubles, when the Soviet Union was conducting maneuvers on the Polish border attempting to influence or intimidate Solidarity a BMP went by with one of the guys that worked for me sitting on the deck. I suspect their names weren't even close, but the physical resemblance was uncanny. I would have mistaken him for my work mate if I had happened upon him in the world.
I had a younger guy in town with my exact name. At the doctor's office and the bank we also used a naming convention. I was Jon F Eastmond senior and he was Jon F Eastmond junior. I didn't know he existed till my bank account wasn't accurate and I got medical records reciting none of my medical issues. I walked up to the guy and said; "Hi, Jon Eastmond. My name's Jon Eastmond!" We sorted out life. Which was rather annoying.
This was a nice fun story, but when if happens at a hospital it's a headache.
Exactly, my SIL had the same name as me, born same year but different month and day, they mixed our records together at the GYN, suddenly I had been pregnant and married, never did get that straightened out. Mind you this is pre computer records! But since I have been married I now have a more common last name and get another persons meds at the pharmacy on multiple occasions. Since we have moved it's been better because someone with my name works at the pharmacy I use
I had the opposite happen. I had just been honorably discharged and still had a military ID when I went through airport security. Handed TSA my ID and they pulled me out of the line for questioning. They didn't like that my military ID showed me having a middle initial, while none of my other paperwork did (I don't have a middle name).
Thankfully the TSA supervisor was also a veteran who didn't have a middle name either, and knew exactly what the military had done: assigned me a middle name of "NMI," which stands for "No Middle Initial."
My dad was in the military with a guy whose name was R. P. Jones. The initials did not stand for a longer name. The military couldn't deal with that, so he was known as R.only P.only Jones.
My dad knew a couple of people when he was in the Air Force who were NMI. Taught him to make sure all of his kids were given middle names.
@@MimisTreasureCottage
I’ve got a couple of great uncles who are R P and W L. When I was a kid I asked what the initials stood for and found out that their given names were just letters.
I have friended two other Donna Vande Zandes who are on Facebook. All three of us married the name. Our husbands are from the same community. One has since passed on. 😢 Two of us worked for the same big box store but in different cities.
In junior high, a girl had moved into the area who greatly resembled me. We looked enough alike that teachers would be confused. Nothing like talking in class, while the other person has their hand raised to give the answer, and the teacher calls MY name. Several times!
I once went to a comedy club and the last comedian was exactly like a co-worker. He looked like him, talked like him, laughed like him, and even had the same sense of humor. This was before cell phones so there was no way to take his photo or record his voice, and I forgot to note his name. I asked my co-worker on Monday if he had any comedians in the family and he said no.
I worked in a restaurant where there were 3 Sherrys. We decided to name us as Sherry 1-2-3 according who worked there first.
We had Liz 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 when I was in Red Crossd -- all 4 in Disaster Service
6th grade we had 3 Elizabeth's. They turned into Liz, Lisa, and Elizabeth.
Thing 1 and thing 2 and thing 3.
Should have gone with Sweet, Medium and Dry.
I'm going to take a wild guess that at least one of you had the middle name of Lynn.
While serving in the UA Army, I was stationed once with another service member who was my double. Once my youngest daughter ran to him and hugged him thinking it was me. When she heard his voice you should have seen the look on her face. Once his wife saw me from about 30 feet away and though that I was her husband. He said she gave him he'll for ignoring her when she called out and I paid no attention to her. Had a god laugh about that.
My husband subbed at a school where his doppelganger was a student. Obviously they were decades apart in age but apparently they were so similar that the boy's mother mistook my husband for her son. She came across the room to speak to him and it wasn't until she got very close that she realized her mistake. Freaked her out a bit!
"Prepare for trouble! And make it double!
Mark... Mark...
To denounce the evils of truth and love!
My wife has a very common name. She had foot surgery recently and after she checked in and was escorted to the OR, I waited for her in the lobby.
Then I watched as a woman with the same name checked in for surgery…on the other foot!
I joked to her that she might want to make sure they’re doing the correct foot…
When my wife emerged from the after-surgery groggy-ness she said they kept saying they wanted to do the wrong foot…until finally they wrote on her ankle with a Sharpie.
Not surprisingly, since then there has been a billing debacle and during a follow up she was even shown the wrong x-ray…
Spiderman pointing at spiderman meme
I was in Australia on business, went to check into hotel. The clerk said Mr. McMillan, you already checked in. I said not me, I just got off the airplane. The clerk said you checked in an hour ago. I said not me, do you have a room for me and yes they did...
Reminds me of….
Two Minor League Baseball pitchers with the exact same name - and eerily similar looks - took a DNA test to find out if they’re actually related after years of being confused for one another.
The NY Post reports Brady Feigl, 32, who is a player for the Long Island Ducks, looks nearly identical to the other Brady Feigl, 27, who plays for the Las Vegas Aviators.
The pair both measure up at 6 feet, four inches tall, have fiery red hair and wear glasses.
I remember that article.
I believe I actually came across that story on TH-cam. That was incredible.
The only other person I met with my first and last name played MLB for my hometown Tigers for a short time. I saw him at the airport showing him my drivers licenses and at this time he was back in the minors. Turning to his team mates like a kid “ look, we have the same name, no way!” 🙂
There is a rather small town 25 miles from where I live that happens to be their county seat. When I was in my early thirties I would go there ocasionally. Total strangers would be inexplicably rude to me. One time I went into a shop and waited at the counter. The owner looked up at me then proceeded to deliberately ignore me until I got the hint and left. I finaly got the story when I walked into a tavern one afternoon. A guy at the bar looked genuinely afraid when he saw me, like he wanted to run away. When he saw I was with someone he knew, he got really confused. Turned out I was a dead ringer for an assistant DA at the courthouse who was, to put it kindly, extremely disliked by many of the locals.
Imagine
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt
That's my name too.
I served in an Navy squadron aboard the USS Ranger back in 1992- 93. I served with four other Paul Smiths. we would get together about once a week and exchange mail and unfortunately laundry. All I have to say is thank goodness for mesh laundry bags.
Twilight Zone in the outback....
Driving my family up to see the grandparents we stopped to refuel in a small outback town.
I was driving in my trusty ol Valiant & happened to notice another Val same year model same colour... A fellow was standing there alongside his Val, hood up, obviously broken down. I asked him whats up, I'm pretty familiar with these, can I help. He said all good... it sometimes overheats.
I said, its pretty rare to see 2 identical old cars, next to each other, middle of nowhere.
Sure is he laughed.
I asked, lets check how far apart their VINs are? He held his cars rego papers so i could note his cars VIN.
Wow. I blurted out, on noticing his name... "your surname is my christian name"... Perry!!!!
Then...
Holy crap... the cars VIN were 5 Nos. apart! built same day!!! some 20yrs earlier.
He then enquired... where you guys heading!
Oh small mining town called Sapphire, not far...
He said, oh I was up there month ago, mining for gems, who do you know up there?
Well my mum Betty lives there with her partner Greg...
The world suddenly tilted on its axis...
The guy said, last month up in Sapphire he was out fossicking for gemstone with Greg & after Betty gave him a haircut...
Mum used to be a hairdresser.
I once parked in my regular shopping mall car park, did my shopping as usual, unloaded my trolley into the back of my car, and returned my trolley to recover my £1 deposit. I returned to my car, got in, and slipped my key into the ignition. Just before starting her up, a nagging doubt in my subconscious told me something wasn't quite right. Pausing for a moment, I realised my car had a perfumed scent to it. I looked, and noticed a scent tree hanging from the rear-view mirror, along with some other trinket. Those weren't there before. How did they get there? Then I noticed some other trinkets, and the world tilted on its axis.
Very sheepishly, I hastily got out of my car's doppelganger, and got into my own car.
Why hadn't they locked their doors? At least I had unloaded my shopping into the right car. I drove off as if nothing had happened, but still reeling.
Hi @CrowPal, that used to happen a lot back in the day when I was a kid. The other person didn't leave their car unlocked/ You were able to unlock the other person's car door with your car key. However, you couldn't turn the ignition on with your key if the cars were the same make, model and color.
Hi, you would have to be an Aussie! G'day from another! Great story...whoo-hoo! So good. 🙂👍🦘🦘🦘
@@bevfitzsimmonds3382
Sure am Bev.
born in Mannum
lived in Kings Cross
now in Queanbeyan
wishing I was somewhere else...
@@o8thman812Hang in there... you are in my prayers. Good things will soon happen.🌺
I was stationed in S. Dakota and met another Airman with the same name as me. He told me how the base bank accidentally put my car loan on his account, which answered the confusion i had a few years earlier when i tried to pay my first loan payment and the bank couldn't find my loan on my account.
I wonder if they also use the same “working” girls in Thailand.
you can air-quote "girls" too if we're talking about Thailand
@@gi70st🤣 I was wondering why they air quoted the wrong word 😂
If they did you know they had to high five
Had a similar thing happen at the State Fair in the 80's. They announced the winner of a truck being given away. My name announced. Well, it turned out there were two other people with the same name there and all of us had entered. None of knew until we all showed up to "claim" the truck. Sadly, it was not me once they looked at the address.
Yes... I'm sure it's the beaches these guys love Thailand for.
I look more forward to the massages. Just go to the beach for the view
@@Kevin-bl6lg Is it kind of weird going all the way to Thailand for a massage when what you're looking for is a local?
@suedenim9208 local beach is fine too.
I've had a similar situation. I moved to Boulder, CO, and within a few weeks someone came by with a petition and asked me to sign it. Surprisingly the last name on the list was MY NAME (but not my signature). Turns out my next door neighbor has the same name as me...and we shared some of the same friends. We don't look alike though.
Friend got held up in customs in The Netherlands because the person in front of them was a red headed kid named Harry Potter. They thought it was fake credentials.
I was at a scifi convention in the early 80's. Over the intercom came a call for Walter Willis to go to customer service. I show up and another guy shows up - turns out he was an author and his editor was calling him.
I had a coworker who unfortunately had the same name, nearly the same age, and greatly resembled a criminal. She got pulled over for a traffic violation and was arrested for the other woman’s warrant! It took days to straighten out (fingerprints). She now has to carry around a letter from the police district explaining the situation in case she should get pulled over again.
Remember back when the Oprah show was big, a woman was arrested for murder. The murderer had the same name, but lived in a different state and was a different race. Took innocent person spent weeks in jail before she was able to prove they had the wrong person.
Similar story. I moved and a new phone book came out. People trying to contact me called a guy with the same name.
Eventually my name double contacted me and we talked about credit bureaus. We both had good credit.
I looked up the story on Google. There is a picture of both men together and other than being bald they don’t look alike to me. but it is strange. They were both on the same flight and had so many similarities.
Steve, don't pay your taxes and see how fast you'll be brought back to life.
Last year I was told a man with my name had died. But the only thing we shared was a name. He was not a good person.
Great video. I worked at a furniture factory. In the office was me Maryann, head office lady was Marianne and there was also a Marion. All of us worked in the office. Both Marion and I had to change our names when answering the phones.
Back when my older brother went to high school they used to sort homeroom classes alphabetically by last name, until it resulted in an entire homeroom of Smiths.
I liked your use of "reMarkable" referring to the story. Very fitting.
I got sent to Cyprus on Operation Platypus (UN peacekeeping) in the 1970's (Turkey's invasion of Cyprus); Thought I was a Radio Technician when I was a GD! - I could change a plug, but not fix a radio...
This happened to me in a hospital! I went in for a simple surgical procedure and once in my room I asked the nurse for my pre-surgery antibiotics due to a heart issue... Long story short, another woman was in the room next door for the same procedure... she had my same name. and we were both from Chicago. She was a PHD in science, My dream was to be a scientist, it just went on from there.
I wish our finances would get mixed up so she can pay some of my debts and fix my credit score so I can have my life back.
I like your story, how cool is that!
Had court leans on my income tax returns.
Didnt take long after calling that a different person with my name in Edmonton (im in Calgary) and it was quickly resolved thankfully, because goverbment beauraucracy is usually slow.
My name sake lived in same voting precinct until he passed away. Never met but his death caused great concern with my mother when his death was announced and several people sent there condolences to her
Where I used to work we had 5 Steve Johnson’s. They used to get invited to the wrong meetings, get the wrong packages etc. Steve3 (that was his email), my colleague, told me they had a monthly “Steve” meeting to sort out stuff…he took his wife’s last name when they got married…
Back in 2004 there were 4 of me (looked alike) in town. One worked at the College, one with the same first name owned a bar, one was a carpenter with a black 85 Corvette and I had a black 84 Corvette at the time.
Back in the 80's I got permission from the university admin where I worked to create an online phone directory and got a list of faculty+staff+students and stuffed it in a database and created a UI for it (when this was ground-breaking stuff). And in the process I noticed every semester there were two or three pairs of students with the exact same first, middle, last name. And in one case they even came from little 1000 person hometowns within 15 miles of each other and were a year apart in age.
Never stumbled on any same name+birthday twins. But with a larger than 30,000 person set of names to work with, there are guaranteed to be exact duplicates (hurray for the birthday paradox--which also works as the birthday+name paradox).
And the most common last name on campus was Johnson. Smith was #2 or 3.
During my last year in high school I had a cousin over in the next town who was killed in an automobile accident on a Friday night. He was my age and we shared the same first and last name. When I arrived at school the following Monday, my teachers and school friends had heard about the accident and had just assumed that it was me. There were quite a a few startled looks and dropped books that day.
83 trips to Tailand is a huge red flag
I went once, for Uncle Sam, for a year.
I was auditing enrollment records for an elementary school and came across three first grade students with the exact same name, first middle and last. They had successive student I.D. numbers, were all in the same grade and were born in three successive years. I went out to investigate on site and found they were siblings whose father had named each of them for himself; one was two years below grade level, one was one year below grade level and the youngest was at grade level. Their father, it seems, was proud of his name, but apparently felt parental responsibility ended once the baby was born and named to assuage his ego.
Now. this story could have been more remarkable if their names were "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt".
Happened to me at the Doctors. Only two of us in the waiting room, Doc came out and shouted out a name and we both stood up! Spooky.
My name has done a couple pretty neat things in this world.
When I was about 13 or 14 (circa 1990), I went to a dental appointment to be told I had already checked in. The other guy with my name was a blond-haired blue-eyed man probably in his late 30s. A few years later, during the age of multi-line dial-up BBSes, I was chatting with a girl my age who said I had the same name as her dad. After comparing notes I realized she was the daughter of the man I had seen at the dentist years earlier.
Oh, come on. Believing anything printed in a British tabloid newspaper is like buying the Eiffel Tower.
especially the Mirror
I dunno, the guy who sold the tower twice actually had a decent cover story lol
The Daily Fail, the Daily Fibber and the Daily Excuse. If you read any of those, London Bridge is up for sale and I have exclusive rights to sell it. Interested?
My father had a bill collector after him for medical bills. He got the records for the visit, and it was the same name, but different race. When he brought up that fact, they accused him of being a racist.
Reminds me of one of my favorite documentaries where a man named korbin dallas won a vacation and someone tried to board the flight with the same name. All hell broke lose.
This actually happened to me. I was in line at the check-in behind a person with the same name. We were on the same flight, seated across the isle from each other. It creeped me out a little.
I know of 9 "Doppelgangers" by apellation, and at least 2 of them are on parole. One has an email address one character different from mine. Makes it difficult to get approved for a gun purchase without a whole bunch of hassle.
One year I got a Christmas card from someone I didn't know, addressed to me, Clarence and Maria. My grandfather Clarence had been dead for decades and I didn't know of a Maria in our family. So, I looked in the phone book and there was another man, same name, correct spelling, that lived only 6 blocks away! The person that had sent the card picked me instead of the other man! Fast forward a couple decades and I was buying furniture at a local retailer and when I went to check out the sales person asked if I was from Pueblo. I said no, I was from Aurora. He showed me the computer screen and we too had the exact same name. All these years I thought I was the only Grant Oakes in the entire world since my first and last name were not very common and the two put together would make it extremely unlikely! As for my doppelganger, good thing that the 80's-90's jazz singer Michael Franks doesn't have my name since we look like twins!