Would you change your name if?

[Tempusernamee]

Someone with the same (common ish) name as you was in the news for committing a crime such as murder/sexual assault (and was likely to remain in the news due to ongoing trial, etc?)

would being associated with this person by having the same name have a negative impact on one’s life?

If I wasn't related, no. I'd introduce myself as "Joe Blogs - not THAT one, lol."
Not sure if I was related. I might marry DP or use my middle name.

Full name like Fred West maybe. Just the surname probably not. Also depends how much coverage they are getting on the news.

I might do. It would get so exhausting having to constantly say, 'Not that Rose West' or to have to reply to the people who think they are original and witty cracking jokes about it that you've heard a thousand times that week already.

I might do. Really depends on how known the name is. But yeah if my name was Myra Hindley or Maxine Carr I'd probably change it.

I think I'd want to. But as I worked with a Shamima Begum at the height of that Shamima Begum being all over the news, maybe I wouldn't. It undoubtedly wasn't great for her, but it was her name (and the Muslim equivalent of Sarah Jones from what I gathered when she was talking to me about it at the time) and she rode the wave and didn't change her name. It's seldom commented on now.

I would lean into it I think. I do know someone in my extended family who is related to a serial killer, with the same quite recognisable surname as him (as in, you would hear the surname and associate it with the person especially if you're into true crime), and has kept it. She quite likes the inferred notoriety I think!

I've worked with someone who had an 'infamous' name which caused a little embarrassment for a few months but then faded. I also correspond in work with someone who has a name that is instantly recognised with unpleasant connotations ... and it IS that person.

There are two lads with the same name where I live and one murdered someone, the other one and his wife would write statuses all the time begging people to stop sending them hate messages and threatening them, even tho the other guy was in custody! It must be fucking awful. I’d change it straight away I don’t really feel any connection to my name tbh 😅

There must be lots of Ian Huntleys but few Myra Hindleys.

If the name is quite common I wouldn't bother but if it was rare or I unusual then I would.

No, I don’t think so. I doubt sharing name would have a negative impact in most cases. Pretty much everyone knows that e.g. Fred West is dead, Rose West is in prison, and that Robert Thompson is no longer known as Robert Thompson; so it’s unlikely you’re going to be blacklisted from a job application or turn up at a conference booking to discover that the staff had confused you with a murderer.

No. It's my name and I'm not that person.