Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Abroad Share The Most Generic 'John Smith' Names From Their Home Country

People Abroad Share The Most Generic 'John Smith' Names From Their Home Country
Shane Rounce on Unsplash

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.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna at Coachella
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella

Madonna Pleads For Safe Return Of Vintage Clothes From Her Sabrina Carpenter Coachella Performance After They Go Missing

Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter's performance at the second weekend of Coachella is pretty much THE pop culture event of the moment, but it ended on something of a low note for the Queen of Pop.

Madonna joined Carpenter onstage to celebrate both the 20th anniversary of her 2006 performance at Coachella to promote Confessions On A Dance Floor, and the forthcoming release of its sequel, Confessions II.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alex Jones and

Alex Jones Has Shirtless Meltdown After 'The Onion' Reaches Deal To Take Over 'InfoWars': 'They're Body Snatchers!'

On Monday, InfoWars founder Alex Jones flipped out, crashing an X livestream shirtless, in reaction to The Onion's bid to license his website and all associated branding potentially moving forward.

In November 2024, Global Tetrahedron, parent company of The Onion, attempted to buy InfoWars through a bankruptcy auction, but the move was blocked by the judge overseeing sales of Jones' property.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Tim Cook
Alex Wong/Getty Images; John Nacion/FilmMagic

Trump Just Shared A Truly Unhinged Tribute To Tim Cook After He Announced He's Stepping Down As Apple CEO—And, Hoo Boy

President Donald Trump shared an unhinged tribute to Apple CEO Tim Cook—whom he again referred to as "Tim Apple"—following Cook's announcement that Apple will have a new leader starting in September, openly reminiscing about all the times Cook would call him to "kiss my ass."

Cook took over from Steve Jobs and reshaped Apple by leaning on his operations expertise. He streamlined and expanded global supply chains, introduced Apple-designed chips, and pushed the company beyond hardware into services, launching subscription offerings like Apple News, Apple TV+, and Apple Pay, which have since become major revenue drivers.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Donald Trump
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images; Alex Brandon/Pool/Getty Images

AOC Offers Hilarious Take On Why Trump's Golfing Amid Iran War Might Actually Be A Good Thing

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke frankly with MeidasTouch Network's Pablo Menriquez when asked about President Donald Trump's second-term golfing habits, pointing out why Americans might actually want him on the "golf course more than you want him in the Oval Office."

She said it was “awful” that Trump was golfing while the U.S. is at war with Iran and facing rising prices, arguing he should be focused on his responsibilities instead.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ahlex Jones; Donald Trump
@RealAlexJones/X; Allison Robbert/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Alex Jones Claims Trump Has A 'Deal' With The 'Deep State' To Throw The Midterms—And MAGA Is Crashing Out Hard

Former friend of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, grifter, and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones widened the gap between himself and the MAGA movement he helped create back in 2015.

In the caption for his five-minute video posted to X on Friday, Jones wrote:

Keep ReadingShow less