Unfortunate name choice

[dsandhisname]

DS shares his name (first and surname) with a fairly well known person, who unfortunately has disgraced himself since.

I don’t really think I can change DS’s name but wondering if others would. The spelling is a bit different. But the name is identical.

Change his first name to Shorn. Shorn Combs.

And this is also part of the problem, he won't be easy to find in Google searches. Which is an advantage if you're a teacher or something, but a huge disadvantage if you start your own business and want people to find you.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_ditch_murders

nice girl ehh?

I think you’re fine, OP.

I do know a priest called Michael Jackson, a gym instructor called Gary Barlow, and a guy called Harry Potter who must be in his late 20s now.

Every adult Ian was once a four year old Ian fs.

Maybe people will call your son Q or Shug lol

@whatnow5 , yes, about 55 years ago.

I taught an Ian who will be 22 now actually. Lovely lad.

Does Hugh have a middle name you could use?

Personally I do think of Huw Edwards but perhaps over time people won't know about him?

I used to work with a Pete Sutcliffe.

And I'd already half forgotten about Huw Edwards.

What about using Hughie?

At least one advantage of being called Ian is that, if ever you start a new religion or become the figurehead of a popular movement, your followers will be referred to as Ianians!

@ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers , how does one say it?

Good question!

I presume it would either just be 'EE-uhn-ee-uhns' or otherwise morph into the more aurally pleasing 'ee-ANN-ee-uhns'.

Apart from the fact that the latter sounds like somebody from Yorkshire getting excited upon discovering some unexpected onions

Names like Ian, Gary, Linda and Keith surely must come back in vogue before long?

Mabel, Elsie and Stanley are now firmly back, so it has to only be a matter of time!

I'm looking forward to the arrival of the baby Bernards, Malcolms and Nigels. Which will no doubt seem like fresh and unusual names to the parents enthusiastically choosing them.

(I did think that Richard Osman's 20something character called Donna, short for Madonna, in a novel set during the last few years, was a bit culturally off...)

@ShaggyPutItOnWhatAPongItGaveHimTheShakesNShivers , I think it would be Eye-Ainy-uns.

Ian, Gary, Linda and Keith - not for a while
Bernards, Malcolms and Nigels. - they seem quite fresh to me but I know people with the names.

Donna would be about 60. A Madonna in her 20s would be Maddie, wouldn't she?

Yes, I hadn't considered 'Eye-Ainy-uns', but that's actually the most plausible!

I think it’s unfortunate so I can understand your thinking although none of his peers would know the name. Does he have a middle name?

I quite like that, only it does suggest an Iain Duncan-Smith fan convention or something…

Wouldn't IDS be excluded?

Most people under about 30 won't have heard of Huw Edwards, and no one will make the comparison in a few years.
FWIW, they haven't done anything wrong, but I know a Dawn French and a Venus Williams.

The boy isn't even called Huw, and I agree that the HW scandal will be forgotten about. Youngsters don't watch the BBC news.

I do know a priest called Michael Jackson, a gym instructor called Gary Barlow, and a guy called Harry Potter who must be in his late 20s now.

There's a rugby player called Harry Potter. He was born before the books came out (just).

There's also a very eminent barrister called Harry Potter.

I remember way back, the singer Robbie Williams getting arsey with one of the (must be loads of) ordinary men called Robert Williams, who had long been known as Robbie.

I think he thought the bloke was somehow trying to pass himself off as him - he wasn't a singer at all; just a normal chap who happened to share his extremely common name!

No one will remember him. You're fine.