Thursday, July 31, 2008

What's in a name?



HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
2
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?
A friend e-mailed this thing to me and I couldn't resist. So I checked it out for my real name (first and maiden) and there were a mere 10,973 other females out there with the same name. That's the joy of having two incredibly common names. Next I checked it out with first and married names. The number dropped dramatically to 643. Finally, I entered my pen name in the system. And discovered that I'm darned near unique--two or less. Heh. So I think I probably did a pretty good job picking a pen name.

Ideal pen names have three things. 1) Easy to recognize and pronounce. 2) Easy to spell. 3)Distinctive in the sense that there aren't ten thousand other people out there with the same name!

A lot of female authors use their maiden names for their pen name. Clearly, that would not have worked well for me. For all I know there are several authors out there with that name. Good job that I didn't go that route.

So, the link is up there. Give it a try... Find out where you are in the general scheme of things. Who knows? You may be one of a kind--or one of a thousand or more.

Anny

10 comments:

  1. I'm like you. I couldn't resist this and it's very interesting. Only 7 with my maiden name, 2 with my married name and 1 with my pen name. Dang,I feel sooo special. LOL.

    When choosing a pen name my criteria was simple. I didn't want a "stripper name".

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  2. I should have kept my maiden name - there was only one of me then. Now there are 61 of me, sigh
    Helen

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  3. I know I am one of a kind so I'm not going to take a squiz. I am unique

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  4. My names easy enough to remember and to pronounce so I kept it for my novels. I also read once to keep it down to only a few sylibles.

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  5. 167 Cindy Spencers (Thanks, mom & dad)Cindy is the 220th most popular name--whoo hoo.

    8 Cindy Papes (and 2 are cousins of my husband--not kidding here)

    NO OTHER Cindy Spencer Papes.

    YAY!

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  6. Hahaha...there are 2 others running around with my maiden name; 51 with the pen! My married and other pen names are unique:)

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  7. 3 other Kelly Kirches but no other Kelly Marriednames. Yay me! That's a fun little tool. Thanks Anny!

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  8. 4 others with my married name I didn't try my maiden name

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  9. My maiden name is more unique, and there is only one of me, too cool.

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