What's in a Name? by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Not too long ago, I read an article where this guy received several messages from a young mother and her friends accusing him of identity theft because he had the exact same name as the young mother’s baby!

These nut jobs were serious!

Can you believe it?

So let me clue you in: Identity theft is only when you take the other person’s social security number and birthdate, not when you have the same name. Let's be honest here: a lot of people have the same name since there are billions of other people on Earth.

I mean there are several Bonnie Hamilton’s in this world. I should know since I’ve more than once been told that I am not the Bonnie Hamilton they were used to, but I’ve also done periodic Google searches of my name to have several other Bonnie Hamilton’s show up, including a doctor. I am not any of those.

I admit I am the only Bonnie Le Hamilton, but there is a Bonnie L. Hamilton who isn’t me either.

And while on that track I might point out that my deceased husband was Tom Hamilton, and he was an ordinary everyday kind of person, no one famous, and he didn’t claim to be. His baby brother is George Hamilton. And I promise he isn’t the Hollywood actor George Hamilton; he’s a volleyball coach.

What I’m saying is no one has exclusive rights to any name. Period.

So, to all those people complaining about someone else using the same name you picked for your kid, get over it! You do not own a copywrite to that name.

I mean it. I read one story where Woman A got upset with Woman B for naming her dog Bella. Woman A had named her daughter Bella and didn’t want her daughter to think she had a dog’s name. Woman B is from a different country where Bella is a common name for dogs, even if they are in the same country now, it doesn’t matter. And it is ridiculous.

There have been several stories of siblings and in-laws fighting over who got to use a certain name as well. Something I do not get.

I have two nieces by the first name of Kristina, and they were born about a month apart, one to my brother, and one to Konnie. Have those two been fighting about that? Never! They laughed it off when it happened, and it’s never been an issue since. Nowadays, Konnie's daughter goes by her middle name, and our brother's daughter goes by Tina. It has just never been an issue.

I read one where a brother and his wife named their baby at her gender reveal then their daughter was stillborn, heartbreaking, but a few months later his sister had a gender reveal giving her daughter the same name as the recently stillborn daughter of her brother’s. Yeah, that was heartless. Just don’t go there.

And I’ve read several where people don’t announce the name of their expected baby and or give a fake name for their expected baby so no one can “steal” their real name, or “copy” their real name.

I say it again, you cannot copywrite a name. I mean someone the likes of Cher can claim a copywrite, but not an everyday Joe. Sorry, you’re not that special.

Though I can see hiding the name to keep someone from copying you. But that is just insane that someone else is so insecure that they have to copy everything someone else does.

I even read one story where woman A had a name in mind for her firstborn son most of her life and at one point woman B, someone who was always trying to one-up woman A, overheard her talking about that name.

Years later they both get pregnant, and woman B gives birth first, using the name woman A had always liked; when woman A uses the name too, woman B goes on a rant about woman A copying her, even while admitting she heard woman A talk about that name when they were teens!

Talk about insane!

I just can’t see fighting over a name. If every parent complained about all the other children out there with the same name as their child . . . well, there would be fewer teachers worrying about Tommy A, Tommy B, or Andrea A and Andrea B, etc. But things like that happen.

Admittedly not to me. Now other Connie’s we ran into all the time, but please note the spelling difference. In fact, today there are both a Konnie and a Connie Enos. Both women are married brothers.

Anyway, happy writing everyone.