Choosing names for low 'google-ability'. Am I crazy?

[blueonblue]

Does anyone think of how uniquely searchable online their children's names will be when choosing them?

My kids all have full names that aren't particularly unique, so when you google them, they're lost in a sea of others with that name. Think "Lachlan Moore" or "Grace Evans" type of names.

I quite like this, as I think it means they can be harder to find online later in life if they choose, but they can make an effort to stand out online if that's their choice too.

Am I the only one who has ever had this cross their mind or am I completely raving mad? Prepared to be told I am!

Feeling smug as my DD has no online presence and has an unusual name to find a Porn Star with the same name - ffs!!'

Shit DS very common name - one hit - lawyer who had an affair with a patient - LOL - ill check dD2

Jeeeezzzz she writes porn!!

Off to change their names - teens are flexible right?

It won't matter. Technology will have moved on so much by the time they're older that google searches will seem so ridiculously simple that you can't believe anyone was bothered by them.

Face recognition, DNA profiling...

My kids don't believe me that I used to have to watch what was on TV at that very moment, rather than having it on demand. Yours will laugh that you thought you could make them anonymous with a common name.

Call them what you like, don't worry about it.

(And if you want to be recognised then they may get annoyed about the common name anyway).

tulips

I like my name being Google anonymous. There is a very public person who thrives on hits with my name :) I am not public.
My dc aren't hit obvious either. DH needs to be up there for work so it did focus my mind.

I do have to confess now that we did google the names of our children before they were born to check we were not about to name them after serial killers...

Pottering it does matter now if you have estrangement or child protection issues. Try putting names into FB etc too.

I know, but the OP mentioned later in life so I assumed this was a long term choice thing not an immediate needs must thing.

Mine weren't needs must when we named them but stuff can change quickly :(

I have a common as muck name (think Sarah Jones or Jane Smith), and I don't like it. I'm never the only one in a database, so I always have to give other identifiers in addition to my name, and honestly, it's just boring and unoriginal.

I'd rather have a less common name and be Googleable.

I love that my name is common enough that I'm not easy to find on social media unless I want you to find me (or I find you)

Honestly it saves so much hassle, I don't get friend requests from colleagues and relatives that I don't want to accept so I avoid that awkwardness.

I have friends with searchable names who have had all sorts of trouble - one had a colleague find their face book and work out their password and caused him loads of trouble. Others have been stalked online by clients etc. I have none of that! There are too many of my name!

Harder for mixed culture families. Alejandro Jones is going to be a lot more distinctive than Alexander Jones but if mum is Spanish/dad is Welsh then that's what often happens.

Be very careful with this. I have a unique name. If you google it there's just me, which means I have to be exceedingly careful about what I write online under my name.

That's what I mean, I have an uncommon name too and I really don't like that I pop up so easily in searches.

It's just an interesting consideration particular to recent generations and I have never heard anyone comment on having it in mind when naming babies

I wouldn't worry too much about it. My children have common first names and an unusual surname. I'm not going to change their surname to avoid google.

Wouldn't have made a difference what first names I gave our kids, our surname is ridiculously rare, so if you Google any of us we all pop up.

I'm almost unique and it is a bit of a worry sometimes. The DC on the other hand have very common names - if they want to build a unique online presence they'll need to unearth their middle names.

Dd is apparently a fashion designer and an author of historical fiction.
Ds doesn't exist.

My name is pretty completely ungoogleable. My first name is an object and my surname is descriptive- think Young.

I'm ridiculously googleable, so I just don't use my name on the internet.

Not really thought about it. I will teach them internet sense though i.e. Don't plaster yourself everywhere online.

Only 3 hits - one is my fucking GCSEs which my school thought it was useful to put on the internet (not just mine, the whole class), one is flaming 192 because I forgot to tick a box or untick a box the first time I voted, and one is something I looked at once that somehow decided I wrote it.

It's amazing how many schools or local newspapers will put kids' full names in articles online. All it takes is for a child to win an award or be part of a sports team where they list their full names, and it's part of their permanent online record.

I know I sound completely paranoid..

No you don't - it's been 15 years since I did my GCSEs and they are still there for the world to see!! This tells them what school I went to. 192 tells them the approximate area I grew up in and my parents and siblings names. Common secret answers for passwords!