What's in a name?

[celamity]

This morning, some random wikipedia searches led me to google my first name (a variant spelling/pronunciation of Rachel). Before, all hits have pretty much pointed at stuff pertaining to me, or to a couple of fanfiction type stories.
Today, I get a german domain name that sells bracelets, some Myspace and Twitter names using my spelling that belong to people named Rachel, and a couple hits on Facebook of American people who have my spelling. Two baby namer pages also popped up, claiming my spelling is Scandinavian/mostly used in Scandinavia.

Oh really?

My parents came up with my spelling (by further altering the actual Scandinavian version of Rachel). I am the only person in Norway with my first name, and a search in Swedish and Danish phonebooks leads me to believe there aren't any with my spelling there, either. And as the US is the motherland of alternate spellings, I suspect the (very few) people there who share my name were given it the same way I was: their parents 'made it up'.

Scandinavian name, my ass.

Comments

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

I have a unique last name, as it was "made up" at Ellis Island, and the only people in the world (or so I thought) with it are all directly related to me, and living in Ohio.

Then, while searching Facebook (because my sister kept suggesting I add this relative or that relative, and I've been resisting but still curious to see WHO among my relatives is on facebook - I found someone with "my" last name WHO IS NOT RELATED TO ME! O:

I sent him a message explaining that I'd never come across anyone with the same surname who was not related, and asked where he is from, but he didn't respond with a message. He just sent a friend request. Now, I have my FB pretty locked down, and am trying to figure out if I should go ahead and accept the request or not...