re: #174 ckkatz

That bbc article on dopplegangers has some scary? fascinating? pictures of doppelgangers. And it discusses one researcher who asked “What is the possibility of an innocent doppleganger being accused of a crime?”.

My last name is fairly common.

One interesting thing is when a last name is transcribed from a non-Latin alphabet or a marginally literate area. You can get all sorts of variations.

And, of course, there are the stories, likely apocryphal such as this:

A young German lad at Ellis Island had been separated from his parents. What’s you name barked the unsympathetic Immigration Officer? The lad replied tremulously ‘Ich vergessen’. The Officer shouted ‘Sign this Ike Ferguson you’re in’ .

— Professor Denim (@profdenim) March 14, 2020

LOL I heard this in Yiddish as “Sean Ferguson.” Sean Ferguson met a Chinese immigrant who was behind him in line at Ellis Island. He was also named Sean Ferguson. Sean I asked Sean II how he got the name. Sean II said, after you told him your name he asked my name and I said “Sam Ting.”