Since I am also a beholder of a common American name, I recently thought about the experiences I've gone through and wanted to share it with all my fellow beholders of common American names.
1. When people still get your name wrong
I mean it's a pretty basic name... how do you get that... wrong....
Person 1: Hi I'm Bob.
Person 2: Oh hi Bob, I'm Robert.
*a min passes*
Person 2: Hey everyone, this is Blob.
But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt; I mix up people sometimes too.
2. When people mistake your common name with another common name
It’s Bill, not Billy! It’s Julie, not Julia! It’s po-TAY-to not po-TAH-to.
3. When you have a common first name paired with a hard-to-pronounce last name
When you have a hard-to-pronounce last name paired with your basic first name so you can see the confidence announcers have when pronouncing your first name but then their face visibly drops as they get to your last name.
I've pretty much just embraced that I'll just be known as Julie "Zoo" for the rest of my life.
4. Finding keychains with your name on it
The perks of having a common first name. You don't know why but it is somehow like validation of your existence when you see your name on a keychain.
4.5 Not finding your name on a keychain but another common name similar to it
Oh so Bobby gets a keychain but Bob doesn't? I see how it is.
5. The privilege you have of telling people your name and they immediately know how to spell it
Spell my name, spell my name.
It's tiring to spell things out, you know. No Tyler ever had to spell his or her name out: T as in tiger, Y as in you don't know how to spell this?, L as in lemon, etc. etc.
6. Being known as an attribute in addition to your name
Sometimes there are multiple people in your class or group that have the same first name. So they are differentiated by, say, their appearance or hobbies.
Person A: I saw Gabby today skipping class...very shady.
Person B: What? Glasses Gabby?
Person A: Nah, Gamer Gabby.
Or if you're less fortunate, a number follows your name.
Okay, Thing 1 go set up the table, Thing 2 take down the chairs...
