Q. I’ve read your column for (what feels like) forever and always found something interesting in it. Thank you for keeping this up day after day.
Here’s one I haven’t seen you address: sharing a name. There is another reporter in the same metro
area that I live in who has the exact same name. She writes for papers that are a little bigger (and a little more conservative) than the ones I write for, but I am still afraid that someone Googling or searching Nexis may get us confused.
Similarly, how important is owning a dot-com domain with my name? A photographer owns my dot-com domain name.
I hate my middle name, but am wondering if I should get over myself and start using my full name on bylines, or some other approach (or get my doppelganger to move across the country). Incidentally, my full (first, middle, last) name .com is not taken.
Rachel
A. There are a number of name doubles in journalism. Mine is Joe Grimm, a student journalist at Swarthmore. The (Detroit) Free Press once had two Bob Campbells, though one was a reporter and the other is an editor. There are at least three Kim Moys, two Karen D’Souzas and two Nina Kims in journalism. Two Deborah Kaplans work at big papers and there are two reporters named Jenny Lee, although one uses the number 8 in her byline.
No, I am not suggesting you take a number. And I am not going to suggest that you not feel all alone. You wrote because you don’t.
You could consider adding a middle initial or using a nickname, but you will then be stuck with that byline or have to explain why the byline changes. There is not a neat and tidy answer. But, as you now know, you are not alone in being — not alone.
I recommend registering your name as a domain if you can. It is very cheap — just a few dollars a year — and will be there if you want to build a Web site someday. Plus, it will prevent untold embarrassment if you also happen to have a name-double who is a Web-savvy stripper.
The recruiter asks back: Are you a journalist with a name double? Do you know some doubles or triples? Tell us by clicking on Add Your Comments.
Coming Monday: She and her husband left journalism — she calls herself a sellout — and are intensely unhappy. She wants to know how to get back.
