We like to think we're individual snowflakes, dancing around on this planet until we land on the soft, gentle tongue of death.
What?
Turns out, we're not as unique as we think. Ever meet someone with the same name as you? Weird, right?
How do we tell Jennifer apart from Jennifer, or which Zach is the one with brown hair and the one with blonde.
Thankfully your name isn't something so unbelievably common sounding that it sounds made up, like John Smith, or something.
That's only here in America, though. What about the rest of the world?
Reddit user, iceninekills10, wanted to know the 'John Smiths' of your country when they asked:
"what is the "john smith",most generic name, in your country?"
When You're A Jet, You're The Jet All The Way
"First name: Maria, João, José, Pedro, Paulo"
"Surname: Da Silva, Souza"
"Combine them and you'll get 10 equally unremarkable names."- IC_grapes_of_green
"In Westside story the main character shouts 'MARIA!' inside Spanish Harlem and one girl pokes her head out of her window really takes you out of it."
"Not the gangs dance fighting and snapping their fingers, because that does occasionally happen."- redfoot62
Juan. John. Coincidence?
"Juan Pérez- Chile"- plasticmummy
So Common It Breaks Borders
"Christian Hansen."
"The most Danish and most basic name known to man kind."
"I only lived close to the border between Germany and Denmark, and growing up I had at least 2 teachers with that name, plus I knew at least 5 others."- TheOneAndOnlyDudeE
"I personally know three Chris Hansens, and I don't even live in Denmark."- StanePantsen
"Martin hansen."- Havolli
Meet The Whole Family
"Michael Müller"- therudereditdude
"Or his son, Thomas Müller."- dumpster_scuba
"Or His son, Max Müller"- therudereditdude
"Abdul Rahman"- norocababe
A Lot Of Unidentified Bodies
"In Hungary we always say Kovács János, literal translation of John Smith, as an universal male name, but it's more like John Doe."- fourllll
Common Enough To Be In The Comments
"Jan de vries /jan janssen"- Flupsdarups
"Yes hello"- jandefries
I Think We've All Been To That Pub...
"Seán Murphy"- ILiterallyOwnTexas
Suddenly It All Makes Sense
"Mario Rossi"- the_Chocolate_lover
"Which translates to 'Mario Red'."
"Also 'Luigi Verdi', 'Luigi Green' could be a generic name in Italy."
"Mamma mia!"- m4nu3lf
Got Money On My Mind
"Straight up nguyen all over"- ThePare
"Differentiate Them In Your Phone" Common
"I know 12 people named David Lee."
"I live in Canada."
"One of them is saved as David Lee NOT ASIAN on my phone"- rayrayrayray
Choose Where You're From
" Japan: [Sato, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka] [Taro for men] [Aiko for women]"- fuzzycuffs
"I've always learned that the equivalent to John Smith (just some generic name that could be anybody) in Japan is Taro Yamada for a man and Hanako Yamada for a woman."- SoulScout
" Japanese commoners didn't have family names until the Meiji era, and once they got surnames they often chose those that described where they were from."
"Yamada 山田 means Mountain Field, i.e. someone who probably was a farmer from a mountainous area."- fuzzycuffs
Hogging the Vowels, But Missing "U" Always...
"Oísin O' Flanagan-Ireland."- AmazingFriendo
"Aoife and Séan- Ireland."- Lovelymisery1
Variations On A Name...
"For the guys its Caleb for the girls it's any variation of the name Maddie/Addy."
"Ex: Madison, Madelyn, Addi, etc."- wroetobogo
To Life!
"Haim Cohen."- Itamar_A
How Many Consonants Can You Squeeze In?
"In South Canara, you’ll get a name of Vishnu (Vishnu, Krishna, Hari, Narayana) and either Bhat or Shetty."- ArnyBoy101
Don't Tell Marcia, But It's Jan!
"Jan Novák."- Massivvvv
"Probably Jan de Jong or Jan de Vries - The Netherlands."- wavykamekun420
"Jan de Bakker."- Helpful-Background71
Is that John With Or Without An H?
"Jón Jónsson."- CheckP
What's in a name?
Turns out if your name is Maria Nguyen Lee Rahman, not much.
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