I read a most interesting article in today’s New York Times: “Googling Me and Finding You: Names That Match Forge a Bond”. (In a book published this month, Finding Angela Shelton, the author describes her meetings with 40 other women who share her name. There’s even a term for this phenomenon: Googlegängers, or Google twins.)
I’ve occasionally done this, though never made a habit of it. Googling “Paul Nelson” results in an overwhelming number of hits. It’s like scanning the listings in a Minneapolis phone book; there’s just too much information – too many competing addresses, phone numbers, and middle initials.
The article opens with some observations by Sam Blackman, a 39-year-old pediatric oncologist. Dr. Blackman refers to his Google namesakes as “Sam 2.0” and “Sam 3.0”. When one of these Sams posted a picture of his new wife online, Sam 1.0 said he felt a twinge of pleasure.
“I’m like ‘Oh! Sam Blackman got married.’ I felt like I should send a card or check his registry on Amazon.”
All I could do after reading this statement was roll my eyes. I wanted to ask the guy, “Is your life so empty that you need to make a connection with someone you don’t even know, just because you have the same name?”
Maybe if people put this kind of energy into strengthening relationships with their immediate family members and flesh-and-blood friends, the world would be a much better place.
But some would say that’s just an ill-informed generalization based on my pre-Internet mindset.
Social scientists have an explanation, if not a defense, for this trend. They say – or at least the reporter says that they say – human beings are unconsciously drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves.
So maybe I should go into the mirror business when I retire.
The article also mentions a psychological theory called the “name-letter effect”, which posits that people like the letters in their own names, their initials, in particular, better than the rest of the alphabet. OK, I admit that I frequently used PEN as part of a log-in or password, though not anymore. (Just in case someone was thinking about going on a phishing expedition.) Actually, I’m partial to my initials because they also serve as the acronym for the international writers group PEN, which originally stood for poets, essayists, and novelists but now includes writers of all forms of literature. Since the 9th grade, writing has been a very important part of my life. Once I reach retirement in four months, my goal is that writing will become the most important – and most successful – part of my life.
Of course, this commentary wouldn’t be complete without my own Google search. But to narrow the results, I needed to use a trifecta approach: “Paul Everett Nelson”.
And lo and behold! How spooky is this? The first result is a current resident of Auburn, Washington, my birthplace.
It Plays In Peoria Productions
Paul Everett Nelson 14 S. Division Auburn, WA 98001. (253) 735-MEAT ipipp@scn.org. Paul Nelson is a broadcast interview host, whole-systems journalist, ...
I hesitated to click on the link, fearing that I might find a picture of my other self. What helped feed this paranoid fantasy is the fact that I just finished listening to the impossible-to-categorize Anansi Boys, wherein Charles (“Fat Charlie”) Nancy, well into his 20s, discovers he has a brother, Spider, who has magical powers that thoroughly disrupt his life. Spider gets Fat Charlie fired from his job, steals his fiancée, and is instrumental in having him arrested for embezzlement and suspected of murder. (Perhaps it’s good that I’m almost retired and happily married! The book has a happy ending, by the way.)
What the hell! I told myself. I’m going to email Paul 2.0.
I briefly explained the reason for this unexpected contact – the New York Times article, my blogpost reaction, the Auburn connection – making a between-the lines effort not to sound like some weirdo reaching out for a friend. I provided one specific reference: My dad, now deceased, was the pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church from 1943-1952.
He responded within an hour
Too weird. Where do you live, Pablo?
He obviously hadn’t click on the link to my blog, which is included as part of my “signature”..
Then he added a postscript to his reply.
P.S. I live 5 blocks north of Messiah Lutheran.
I’ve occasionally done this, though never made a habit of it. Googling “Paul Nelson” results in an overwhelming number of hits. It’s like scanning the listings in a Minneapolis phone book; there’s just too much information – too many competing addresses, phone numbers, and middle initials.
The article opens with some observations by Sam Blackman, a 39-year-old pediatric oncologist. Dr. Blackman refers to his Google namesakes as “Sam 2.0” and “Sam 3.0”. When one of these Sams posted a picture of his new wife online, Sam 1.0 said he felt a twinge of pleasure.
“I’m like ‘Oh! Sam Blackman got married.’ I felt like I should send a card or check his registry on Amazon.”
All I could do after reading this statement was roll my eyes. I wanted to ask the guy, “Is your life so empty that you need to make a connection with someone you don’t even know, just because you have the same name?”
Maybe if people put this kind of energy into strengthening relationships with their immediate family members and flesh-and-blood friends, the world would be a much better place.
But some would say that’s just an ill-informed generalization based on my pre-Internet mindset.
Social scientists have an explanation, if not a defense, for this trend. They say – or at least the reporter says that they say – human beings are unconsciously drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves.
So maybe I should go into the mirror business when I retire.
The article also mentions a psychological theory called the “name-letter effect”, which posits that people like the letters in their own names, their initials, in particular, better than the rest of the alphabet. OK, I admit that I frequently used PEN as part of a log-in or password, though not anymore. (Just in case someone was thinking about going on a phishing expedition.) Actually, I’m partial to my initials because they also serve as the acronym for the international writers group PEN, which originally stood for poets, essayists, and novelists but now includes writers of all forms of literature. Since the 9th grade, writing has been a very important part of my life. Once I reach retirement in four months, my goal is that writing will become the most important – and most successful – part of my life.
Of course, this commentary wouldn’t be complete without my own Google search. But to narrow the results, I needed to use a trifecta approach: “Paul Everett Nelson”.
And lo and behold! How spooky is this? The first result is a current resident of Auburn, Washington, my birthplace.
It Plays In Peoria Productions
Paul Everett Nelson 14 S. Division Auburn, WA 98001. (253) 735-MEAT ipipp@scn.org. Paul Nelson is a broadcast interview host, whole-systems journalist, ...
I hesitated to click on the link, fearing that I might find a picture of my other self. What helped feed this paranoid fantasy is the fact that I just finished listening to the impossible-to-categorize Anansi Boys, wherein Charles (“Fat Charlie”) Nancy, well into his 20s, discovers he has a brother, Spider, who has magical powers that thoroughly disrupt his life. Spider gets Fat Charlie fired from his job, steals his fiancée, and is instrumental in having him arrested for embezzlement and suspected of murder. (Perhaps it’s good that I’m almost retired and happily married! The book has a happy ending, by the way.)
What the hell! I told myself. I’m going to email Paul 2.0.
I briefly explained the reason for this unexpected contact – the New York Times article, my blogpost reaction, the Auburn connection – making a between-the lines effort not to sound like some weirdo reaching out for a friend. I provided one specific reference: My dad, now deceased, was the pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church from 1943-1952.
He responded within an hour
Too weird. Where do you live, Pablo?
He obviously hadn’t click on the link to my blog, which is included as part of my “signature”..
Then he added a postscript to his reply.
P.S. I live 5 blocks north of Messiah Lutheran.
My Dad is named Paul Everett Nelson and lives in Chicago. My brother named his 2nd son Paul Everett Nelson and they live in South Elgin, IL.
Paul 2.0Outside of me, the only other Paul Everett Nelson who showed up in my Google search is dead.
Coroners’ Reports
July 28th Mrs Carrie NORLANDER 82 Willard St, fractured Femur in fall July 29th Paul Everett NELSON, age 12, 207 W 8th St accidental gun shot ...
The coroners’ report are from Chautauqua County, New York – the county line is just a 15-minute from where I grew up – and cover the years 1917-1936.
There are times when it is good to be unique. I am the only Michael Golrick (and many may think that is good!). There are other Golrick family members I find including my sons (Greg/Gregory and Brian) my late mother (Joan), my brothers Peter, Paul and Thomas (Tom). Peter has a son Ed (our father was also Ed, but died well before the Internet). Paul's son is Kyle, and Thomas' is Thomas. The rest of the Golricks are another family, not mine. They are all related to each other, as I found by correspondence in about 1980.
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