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[stubbornhubby]

my children were named long ago, but if i was naming a child now one of my biggest areas for thought would be : is it better to have an unusual name, so that people can find you on google and facebook, or a 'john smith' type name where you will always be difficult to locate.

there are pros and cons, and I think it's an interesting one.

I have an unusual surname - (less than 500 people in the world it seems) and so every one of my family have unique names, and are easy to find on google and facebook. I think our experience of modern life is shaped quite strongly by this.

I am interested to know if other people debate this, and which side do come down on one? Do you go for a rare name, or a thousands of 'em?

Did this ever occur to you? It doesn't seem to be discussed on MN (or at least I couldn't find it in a search)

Moss - right?

Yes!

I thought I had a pretty unusal name but turnsout there is someone with my exact same name (middle name and everything) who is a professor of Geography in America! Oh well, maybe I should pretend to be her! Lol.

reading this thread I am astonished how many people seem to have never googled themselves before. Doesn't everyone do this regularly? Don't you want to know what other people can see about you?

I have a google alert set up.

There are 28 people in the UK with my name - one of them turned in a laudable performance as Nurse Ratched in a production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I'd rather be unique, I think.

The older DCs - there are thousands of them out there with the same name. The younger DCs have a hybrid of my and DH's surname so are well and truly unique, which they love. But you're right - any minor shoplifting conviction when they're troubled youths and it will haunt them forever.

This is a horrible problem for DH.

He has an unusual name - but the only other one on Google is a Canadian convicted paedophile.

I mean, obviously his clients realise that's not him when they look for him online, but it's still cringey.

I'm the only person with my name and I'm glad that I can find all the on-line references to me easily and get any information I don't want public dealt with. I have had a stalker in the past and I am ridiculously careful about this (use middle and maiden name academically, for example). My DH has a very common name, even with our relatively unusual surname, there are a few kicking about and he has to really trawl (on my insistence) to get anything with our address etc removed.

I would go for a name a bit more common than mine (I hate that if you put in my first name and city, you get me) but not too common.