Oh, what joy...

[Ritual]

Since last weekend there's been a 10 year old girl missing from a small village here in Sweden. A guy was arrested about 5 days ago and today he apparently confessed that he killed the girl and told the police where he had hidden the body. He also confessed another murder comitted 8 years ago, that has never been resolved. And, what do you know... the guy turns out to have the same name, both first and last, as I have! Guess if I will get "reminded" about that? I certainly don't look forward to all the tasteless jokes about it I doubtlessly will get to hear.

[goblyn13]

If is name is that close to yours, I know here in the states, you'll need to be sure to protect yourself to insure that you don't "accidently" end up getting slandered. Also if the news media in sweden tries to be anything like ere in the US, get your phone number unlisted now.

[Ritual]

Well, in all honesty... Media is not that bad here! This guy is in police custody so not even tabloid journalists would be so stupid as to try calling the guy at home. I'm more annoyed by all comments and jokes I expect to be submitted to.

When I was a kid I was constantly being told jokes about me sharing the name with a heavy-weight boxing champion. Now, I share name with a child killer too... Hooray! :hmpf:

[DeafNala]

You have my sympathy. Of the many things live is, fair isn't one of them.

[Duende]

When I was growing up there was a girl with the same first and last name as me who was a grade below me and lived a couple of miles away from me. She was more active in student council than I was so getting paged to come to the office was common (it was typically for her, but I had to show up too, just in case). It wasn't until I got to 12th grade that they thought to differentiate between us when paging. Duh! (And my high school at teh time was 7th-12th, so it only took them 4 years to figure it out.)

But her was never a criminal as far as I never, and both of our last names are probably different by now. Sorry you're not a woman, Anders, you could just get married and not worry about it! ;)

(I know .. not much help. But if anybody heckles you, try Googling their name to see all the people that they shame names with.)

[Ritual]

@Duende
If I get married I can choose to take my wife's last name. So, it's an option. :)

[matty1001]

Laura received a lot of phone calls when this news story broke out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/797201.stm

People would just hear the name and freak out, not bothering to listen or read the rest of the story and find out it is a completely different Laura Kane.

[orkydave]

Sorry to hear about this, both the crime and the name situation.

It might be annoyiong for a while but I am sure it will blow over in a month or so, as soon as the next big story hits the news.

[Frustrated Father]

Seriously sucks amigo, hopefully you don't get any issues with the media though I imagine if you simply give folks the 'look' and say 'I find that in bad taste, seriously, keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself' I'm sure it'll get across real quick.

Guy at work had the same name as a man that died in a plane crash here in Georgia. His wife was getting phone calls within three hours of the crash asking her 'how she felt about her husbands death'. He was sitting there in the living room when they called.

Regardless though, glad that they caught the individual.

[Ritual]

Yeah, that lowlife will not be walking the streets anytime soon! And, as he's in custody, I doubt anyone will actually believe that I am him. It just sucks being associated with a guy like that!

And, it felt truly weird seeing my name all over the tabloid bills this morning! :(

[johnboyjjb]

As long as it stays just your name and doesn't start to include your face, your mini painting accounts, address, and workplace I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't think most strangers would make a comment and if your friends do, well, that depends on the friends you've chosen.

[Ritual]

@johnboyjjb
Yeah, we look nothing like each other. The scumbag is 10 years older than me, heavy-set and with light hair. I am tall and thin and if I hadn't shaved it all off I'd have dark hair. He lives in a different part of the country. I don't think my friends will hassle me about it, but people I merely know, although not that well, might possibly do.

[demonherald]

seriously on the scale of sucky things that can happen that is pretty damn sucky..
hopefully ther aren't any retarded vigilante types in the area that just need a name.. ingers crossed for a and glad they have caught and placed in a cell the guy...

[Avelorn]

Well your still lucky that your name is relatively common and that you don't come from the same place. Still sucks though.

[Ritual]

... and glad they have caught and placed in a cell the guy...

You know, the bizarre thing about how they caught this guy... A man was outside his house testing a new camera he had bought. He was taking pics at random just to see how the camera worked. He takes a photo of the girl on her bicycle when she's on her way home. 45 seconds later he takes a pic where a car is seen going the same direction as the girl. That was the killer, and that's how they tracked him down. Not knowing, of course, that he had killed her, but as he was in the area where she was last seen the police wanted to hear him.

It's strange how coincidences like that can make such a difference. What are the odds? The area where this happened is really sparsely populated. Yet, someone manage to photograph both the girl and the car with the killer while just taking random photos.

[goblyn13]

You know, the bizarre thing about how they caught this guy... A man was outside his house testing a new camera he had bought. He was taking pics at random just to see how the camera worked. He takes a photo of the girl on her bicycle when she's on her way home. 45 seconds later he takes a pic where a car is seen going the same direction as the girl. That was the killer, and that's how they tracked him down. Not knowing, of course, that he had killed her, but as he was in the area where she was last seen the police wanted to hear him.

It's strange how coincidences like that can make such a difference. What are the odds? The area where this happened is really sparsely populated. Yet, someone manage to photograph both the girl and the car with the killer while just taking random photos.

Here in the US, we call that Dumb, Blind Luck.

[Ritual]

Yeah. Yet things like this seem to happen so often. No matter what sort of incident, there always seem to be someone with a camera there who either takes a picture when it happens or not knowingly photographs it and only later realises what the pictures show.

[goblyn13]

That would be due to the "myspace" generation and the ease and availabilty of digital cameras. nowadays being able to take a picture and upload it to a computer, makes it sooo easy, doesn't require a scanner or getting the photos developed somewhere else. And size of most cameras these days. They keep getting smaller and smaller.

[eastman]

...Guy at work had the same name as a man that died in a plane crash here in Georgia. His wife was getting phone calls within three hours of the crash asking her 'how she felt about her husbands death'. He was sitting there in the living room when they called...

I share the same name with the Governor of South Dakota who was killed in a plane crash (mid-90s, IIRC), so I got sick of that.