How Many of Me?

HowManyOfMe.com will tell you how many people in the United States share your name.  Among other things, it will also tell you the name of the most famous person with your last name.

In my case, there are 17 other people in the country who share my name, and the most famous person with my last name is Norman Dicks, Democratic Congressman from Washington.

I admit it.  I was secretly hoping that it would be me.  I’ve never met anyone outside my family with my last name, and though I see people with my last name from time to time in my Google Alert feed, none of them seem to be doing anything of importance. 

I thought I had a shot at the title of most famous.           

Unfortunately, It’ll be hard to top a Congressman for most famous billing, but perhaps he will lose his seat in Congress to some upstart contender in the 2010 elections.

Of course, he’s held his seat since 1976 (I was five years old when he entered Congress) and Wikipedia reports that he “hasn't faced substantive opposition” since 1980.

In reading about his career, it would appear that Norman Dicks has been an excellent Congressman, serving on several key Congressional committees and championing the environment for most of his time in office. 

No scandals.  Many awards.  And he was a star football player when he was young.

How annoying.