Have you ever googled yourself?

[+ Charlie]

I get so much spam email from women who comment on wanting to meet for sex since seeing my photo. Since I was not aware of any photo of me online, I decided to google my real name, and to my amazement, it came up with info about a much younger man who lives in Switzerland, with several photos (supposedly of him), and a lot of info about his job as a technology products expert. I still do not understand how the women (I don't know if they are real, either--probably not) got my email address, or whether the info page about the other guy is fake, since my real name is unusual and I have never known anyone else with it. Have any of you had a similar experience?

[+ PhileasFogg]

Fortunately, in my case, I’m the best looking of my doppelgängers   If I might say so… 🤣

plus, I locked up the domain name for our name in the 90’s

 

[+ JamesB]

Doing a Google search on yourself is a good idea. It isn’t vanity; it’s basic digital hygiene and threat detection. Use an incognito or private window, otherwise your personalized search history and location can influence the results, giving you a curated bubble rather than a view of what someone else might see. 

You should also try different search combinations, such as your name with your location, workplace, phone number and other identifying details. It’s also worth setting up a Google Alert for your full name in quotation marks so you’ll be notified when new publicly available information appears.

[samhexum]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

Have you ever googled yourself?

 

[TonyDown]

The only social media I ever loaded my identity is LinkedIn, although my privacy setting removes me from Google searches.

When I do a regular Google search, only a few result are generated, such as my mother's obit.

I realize there are other sources where experts could sleuth my name, outside of a plain Google search.  

 

[nomad]

People don't realize how much of their personal information is available online.  Just from public records alone.  I always Googled people interviewing for jobs.  Saved me a lot of time.  The stuff people post on the socials is very insightful. 

[+ Just Chuck]

There are two other men with the same first and last names as me who I’m frequently mistaken for. One is a Methodist minister who seems like a really nice guy. The other one is a professor of music who was even born the same year as me and grew up in the same state.

So, I got lucky for that one.

[ShortCutie7]

I have a VERY common name… every component of my name is very common, and there are at least two other people who up with my first, middle, and last name (and I suspect there are significantly more)!

[BuffaloKyle]

I have a bit of a unique last name and was surprised to find out there are some other people with the same name as myself.

[+ Just Chuck]

I knew a guy named John Thompson.  He told me that sometimes he'd check into hotels and when he said his name, clerks in cheaper hotels would wink and say, "suuure you're 'John Thompson'".

[+ PhileasFogg]

1 hour ago, Just Chuck said:

I knew a guy named John Thompson.  He told me that sometimes he'd check into hotels and when he said his name, clerks in cheaper hotels would wink and say, "suuure you're 'John Thompson'".

My surname is VERY uncommon and once I checked into a hotel in Cambridge MA that hosted someone of the same first/last name…there’s about 6 of us that I’ve identified in America 

[marylander1940]

Yes, I have googled myself and to my surprise I discovered I was mentioned in a few Wikipedia pages. 😂 

Just in case I never held public office, but I've been involved in the comeback of many neighborhoods, safety commissions, etc. 

Edited 12 hours ago by marylander1940

[Nue2thegame]

On 9/13/2026 at 11:19 AM, Charlie said:

I get so much spam email from women who comment on wanting to meet for sex since seeing my photo. Since I was not aware of any photo of me online, I decided to google my real name, and to my amazement, it came up with info about a much younger man who lives in Switzerland, with several photos (supposedly of him), and a lot of info about his job as a technology products expert. I still do not understand how the women (I don't know if they are real, either--probably not) got my email address, or whether the info page about the other guy is fake, since my real name is unusual and I have never known anyone else with it. Have any of you had a similar experience?

To answer your question, yes I have. While my name isn’t that common, there are several others around the world with the same name. Some of the best sex I have had was with men and women seeking my more famous namesake. Although some have commented that they were expecting someone much younger, better looking or with greater endowment, I sent them on their way after we were done with an autograph and we both left happy. 

[wsc]

I have googled myself, adding my city and state for the search, and I am happy to report I have almost no on-line presence. I think I still have a Facebook page to which I have never added content (just got it to keep tabs on postings of a friend who moved out of state but later deleted everything because he became paranoid about potential surveillance - ?!?), and an equally unused Twitter account (just used to look at providers' Twitter content). So, on balance, I'm very happy to be practically invisible and hope it stays that way.