AIBU to feel unsettled after guessing a child's name exactly?

[Sam155320]

Just finished work and was making my way home when I saw 2 young girls with their parents selling few things for charity. Gave them money and one of the older girls said to me guess my name with a clue I give you something for free. Before she said clue I guessed her name like I was drawn towards her. They were all amazed. But it made me feel unsettled.

😂😂

I knew my partner to see from around town before we got to know each other, I guessed his name correctly.

😂😂

I think quite often people who are similar have similar names.
I think names like Oliver, Sam, Seb, Lilly, scarlet... when you meet people and they say they have these names its almost always that they fit a certain mould, look etc.

I do definitely think you can pick up thoughts, don't think it's woo, probably more to do with electric currents. I used to always beat my sister at Guess Who. Used to try and guess if I could see she was winning and nearly always got it right.

Are you sure you've told us what happened in the right order OP?

It's normally "Hi, do you want to buy anything?" "No? Ok then, if you can guess my name I'll give you something for free".

Then you obviously get the 'name' right.

Now you're not just engaged, but you're also feeling good and therefore far more likely to buy from them.

Oldest trick in the book.

Maybe she looked like a certain name. Isla for example.

You were drawn towards her? That sounds iffy.

OMG OP that is incredible!! You must have the gift of the Shamen!!!

Alternatively, you’re making a massive deal about a coincidence and should get a hobby.

I agree. I think you can sometimes pick up on a person's thoughts if you tune in. Doubtlesd this was what the OP was doing.

Or she's fallen for a street scam 👀

I'd have loved to be able to hang around and see how many people guessed her various name 'right'.

Maybe OP is concerned because she thinks this may actually be her daughter and she's forgotten giving birth to her and raising her for 10 years before accidentally losing her in the tinned food aisle at Sainsbos.

Yup, they wanted rid of the stuff, as it was getting on.

How do you know that they didn’t just agree to whatever name you said? 😅 I’m assuming you didn’t see her birth certificate.

They were all much better than the only one I got from that clue: Donna (sounds a bit like donor; and people commonly use both pronunciations to refer to a kebab)!

You have too much time on your hands

I imagine it going like this
"Guess my name and you can have something for free"
"Lilly-allen"
"Wow how have you done that - you must be psychic - you can have this cat ornament"
"No - I couldn't possibly"
"OK then that will be £76 please - we take cards"
OP walks off with cat ornament.

It is impressive, of course; but a lot of it hinges on whether it was the PIN as assigned at random by the bank's computer, or if he'd changed it to something more memorable himself. If the latter, many people choose significant years - and unless they're a history buff, it's probably one in their own life; so the proportion of PINs that begin with 19 or 20 must be far higher than any other two numbers.

Not quite the same thing, but a little bit like with the lottery, where people very frequently choose birthdays; so far more people will pick numbers up to 31 than the higher ones.

Also with things like 'favourite' numbers, if people asked you to guess theirs. Theoretically, there are infinite possibilities, but the chances of their favourite number being 48653215675198 are pretty slim! Almost all of them will be between 1 and 10 - with probably 80% of them being number 7.

Surely that applies to all of us (including you and me) who chose to read and participate in this thread (and most others on MN) too?!

I once have a very vivid dream that a friend of mine had been burgled, it was so vivid with a lot of details such as her being in the house alone with her daughter. It felt so real that I called her when I woke up and it turned out that the previous night she had indeed been burgled. It was really, really weird but ultimately it was a fluke.

It depends on the name. If it was Amelia or Olivia, it would be easy to guess it by chance. If it was Ermintrude, it would be a bit weirder.

Whilst shopping in Waitrose last year I saw a woman that I thought was someone I knew. I went up to her and said "hello Dorothy" but when she fully turned to look at me, I realised it wasn't Dorothy. (Although she did look and dress rather like her). The woman realised I'd made a mistake but was quite taken aback because her name was indeed Dorothy.

Not the main point of the thread, I know, but it's a bit sad if a child of that age has already been taught (or thought it up herself) to needlessly lie to get ahead in any level of business.

It would have been funny if you'd guessed at something that you knew was utterly ludicrously improbable, but which she as a youngster didn't know wasn't a valid name; so she congratulated you and told you that her name was indeed Spatula

I'd also feel a bit guilty taking a freebie from a child, rather than paying them for it/for their charity collection - even if offered.

OP has disappeared in a puff of smoke … maybe she is a witch! 🤔

She's done the same as Robbie did when he left Take That: she's suddenly realised the extent of her alluring powers and has decided that we're now way beneath her