I love Googling myself.
I hadn't in a really long time and with the new Facebook privacy settings I was curious what would pop up. Facebook did what it was supposed to do in not letting you navigate to my profile from a Google search. And then a couple of hits down I found this.
"There is 1 person with the name Kate Estrop in the United States."
One person? Seriously? A couple of other sites revealed the 13 Estrops in the country, 6 of which are immediate family. I knew my name was pretty rare, but I didn't realize there were less than 20 of us in the U.S. (though I knew there are more internationally, like in Malaysia and Mexico). My cousin Erin is the only Estrop in my generation. One Erin Estrop. One Kate Estrop. One David, one Virginia, one Mark, one Marjorie.
You are told over and over again that you're unique, that you're the only one like you in the whole world. But it's not until I saw this did I realize...holy crap. It's true, and not just in a touchy-feeley-everyone's-special kind of way. My name could die out. In two or three generations there could be no Estrops at all in this country.
I was already thinking of keeping my name were I to marry again, because I will publish before then and don't wish to be associated with two different names professionally. But this simple, selfish act of Googling has made me realize that it might be about more than that.
Not everyone has the luxury of being the first hit on Google without a gazillion visitors to their site. Why would I throw that away?
8 comments:
Hmmm, i wouldn't use Google as the authority for finding people with your name. If you are really serious about finding relatives/starngers, you could pay a fee to run a private legal search, or subscribe to a genealogy site, or visit a library in a town of origin and dig through some microfisch.
Google is displayed by hits and and advertising.
not that you're not special...
Ah, but I think you've missed the point: Google.
We all use it. And to have a top hit on something is huge, especially if you want to be published and (maybe) semi-famous someday.
Perhaps I focused too heavily on ancestry and number of my family in this article, because I think the main points in writing it were:
a. Holy crap The White Pages only found one of me.
b. Holy crap that's amazing.
and
c. Holy crap I'm never changing my name again.
I'm not really interested in it past that - ancestry is a (sometimes expensive) hobby I will leave to some of the other members of my very small family.
By the way, I would recommend readers to keep their ice cream very far from this commenter, lest it be stolen along with all of your joy.
This reminds of a nonfiction piece i read recently called "Being Brian" by Brian Doyle. The author Googles his name, checks the White Pages, etc... to track down as many Brian Doyles as possible and interviews many of them. Since it is a more common name, I don't think he discovers any blood relation, but manages to find similarities and shared interests with the Brians. I have a copy of the story if you'd like to check it out.
I've Googled myself before, too. I'm the only person in the country with this name. Sometimes I'm not too happy about the random Myspace posts and Buffy message board additions (wish I could take those back) that now seem indelibly associated with me. So, sometimes I think taking a new last name might be a way to reinvent my (e-)self. Guess I'll make that decision when the time comes.
I'd love to Catie - thanks! :)
When the time comes, eh? Is it coming soon? :-D
Oh snap anonymous! Clearly anonymous doesn't have a special name like Kate Estrop. I sence a little jealousy.
I always get weirded out when I google myself. And, I kinda have a common name, that's why I spell Jennee the way I do. But, if you look for Jennifer Thompson's, yeah, I'm not a one of a kind with my name.
I feel bad for anonymous they were merely trying to explain a different route into self examination through the use of geneology and perhaps missed the point that it was a blog on googling and not on geneology. Interesting post Kate as it has garnered a discussion. There are not a lot of me's out there either and I see the importance and value of keeping a name but I have always been in love with my name and would not change it for anyone as it links me to my heritage and to my value of family and their histories interwoven with mine. I also feel a sense of pride in my name and I think you have discovered this through your random acts of googling. Yay for you! Keep writing!
Catie's comment in turn reminds me of a movie I saw a few years ago: The Grace Lee Project
I find it incredibly coincidental that I just met a girl named Grace Lee at a party last night. I will definitely check out this movie-- maybe she'll be in it!
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