Sorry, Wrong Number (or in this case, Suzanne)

This week has brought a rash of emails from the various reunion based sites.

One of them, Reunion.com, sent an email to an address I only use for the blog that "BK has confirmed you as a friend." Only problem is that I don't know anyone by that name. Then I go to their website and I can't sign in, because my email is not one they have on file. Fine. (I vaguely remember this woman contacting me through another reunion site a few years ago, too.) Somewhere in Canada, there's a 56 year old woman with the same first middle and last name and she's got people looking for her!

Then, I get a message in my Classmates inbox. "Are you part of the (last name) family that lived on G street?" That would be a no. In my sleepy hamlet (population 30,000), there were three families with the same last name. All three had girls named Kathy, but I was the only Suzanne. Based on her graduation year, she was probably looking for the Kathy with the same last name that ended up living around the corner from us when Giggles and I were kids. I sent her off a note, saying if she was looking for the (last name) family with these kids, I knew that one of them married a classmate and moved to S street.

Before I was married, I had an Irish surname that wasn't uncommon, but wasn't common. In my life, I've only met one other person with a similar name, but Susan instead of Suzanne. However, my sister? She probably had the most common combination of first and last name that females of our last name have. Then she married a man who has an even MORE common Irish surname. I'll bet she's met tons of women who share the name-and gets even more 'wrong number' emails!

Then, Ed got a curious email on Facebook yesterday. Unlike me, his surname didn't really cross the pond from Ireland. In fact, due to his dad being an orphan, it is highly likely that anyone with the surname here in the states is related in some way. (We'll never know, because the orphanage burned down years ago.) He didn't recognize the name, as some people use aliases on there.

The person asked "Did you go to this college?" Ed sends back a positive response-and now is back in touch with two of the three people from college he missed the most. I've heard stories for years of "The Zoo Crew" and well, here are the major players.

I'm hoping that those women who reached me as a 'wrong number' keep trying to track down their Suzanne or the (last name) family on G street. Because if they keep at it, they'll have a happy reunion like Ed did yesterday.

Comments

LOL Suzanne. I can relate. my maiden name is a very common Jewish surname. There was another girl with the same name as me in my neighborhood, but she was younger than me and went to a different school. and there was a girl a year ahead of me in college with my name.


my married name is also fairly common. when Becca was in preschool there was another Rebecca(our last name) in her class. I've also met another Jennifer (our last name) who was older than my daughter Jen.
Unknown said…
SB, at least the boys have it easy. Ed's and I have each met ONE person with the same last name. His encounter was in a tire shop in Patchogue and mine was a regular customer at Bath and Body Works.

I thought it was funny that every time I encountered another family wih my name, they had a Kathy!
Yeah...much easier. my paternal grandfather changed his last name when he became a citizen. the family name was Skorohod. I have never met anyone with that name. learning to spell that would have been worth the trouble to have a unique last name. in fact my father thought about changing it back...but in the 50's a Russian name might not have been so great.

my boyfriend in law school was Marc Cohen. when he went to college there were 5 guys named Marc or Mark Cohen enrolled at the school. 5 students with the same name...it was very confusing. and annoying. one of the other Marcs got into a bit of legal trouble...and "my" MArc was inadvertently arrested in his place.
Suzanne said…
The middle name may not have even helped. What are the odds that they both were Marc David.

Skorohod would have been cool. We lost the Celtic spelling when my ancestors got here.
Unknown said…
I don't really hide my name - if you know my email address you'll understand. That said - I've never had any of the people that share my last name make any inquiries as to relationship.

I wonder why?

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