So and So of Such a Place?

[saharris]

I've thought about possibly using a territorial designation (TD). Not to fain nobility as "Laird of Brigadoon" or whatnot, but because my name is so frustratingly common. One site says that there are 3,231 Steven Harris living the US right now - that's less than 1 in 100,000 - not exactly unique.

[EagleJCS]

I've thought about possibly using a territorial designation (TD). Not to fain nobility as "Laird of Brigadoon" or whatnot, but because my name is so frustratingly common. One site says that there are 3,231 Steven Harris living the US right now - that's less than 1 in 100,000 - not exactly unique.

Got ya beat... try 8,079 men in the US with my name using the 2010 census info (or 9124 using public records searches)! Just by looking in the phone book, I know there are at least 10 men in the Louisville area with my same first and last names, and I know of three that also share the same middle initial! (I imagine there are more that don't have a published phone number, like me.) Two are close to my age (a few years older), which may explain why I'm getting AARP ads in the mail and on online pop-ups even though I'm not yet 44. I used to work at the same company with one, but never met the man - we worked in different buildings, but we were both in IS (me in software/support, him in networks).

Using a territorial designation wouldn't be practical in my case, unless I had a named property (like Mirkwood Farm or some such). It would really only be useful in situations like Kyle described: being in the same social group and having the same name as someone else, thus differentiating using a TD. Perhaps a better alternative would be to just use a nickname.