Uniquely Yours

It amazes me how much time people spend creating neat stuff to see and do on the World Wide Web. And my mind boggles at the amount of time very busy people spend surfing and discovering these things. Bloggers do it a lot, and they may be the chief disseminator of such – myself among them. How Many Of Me is a goody I picked up from Terry Teachout, who got it from Tinkerty Tonk, who got it from Charles, who got it from Swirlspice, who got it from Lauren. Seems like I’m in good company.

HowManyOfMe.com
Logo There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Based on data from the US Census Bureau, no one on their list has my first name, but then they say that “around 1 out of every 10 people will have a first name not on the list” and over the years I have met a few others with the name Devra. Their list includes 599,937 people in the U.S. with the last name Hall and by their calculations it is “statistically the 26th most popular last name.” But the kicker is they list 12 famous people with the last name Hall, and notonly was Jim Hall not among them, but I had never heard of any of them! So, of course, I googled them all:

1. Alexander Hall: Director/film editor/actor born in 1894. (Ancient as I might feel, he was a little before my time.)

2. Anthony Michael Hall: Star of The Dead Zone. (Not my speed.)

3. Dante Hall: (courtesy of Wikipedia) an NFL kick/punt returner, and wide receiver, known as the “Human Joystick” in the NFL for his moves during kick returns. (I don’t watch much football; lost interest after Joe Namath started hawking panty hose.)

4. Jerry Hall: the supermodel/actress a/k/a Mick Jagger’s long-time companion/wife. (I should have known this one, but I was thinking “Jerry” was a guy’s name.)

5. Jon Hall: Beefcake co-star of Maria Montez in the most popular movies in Technicolor which were made between 1942 and 1945. (Again, this predates me.)

6. Kevin Peter Hall: Actor who was frequently cast in monster roles due to his extremely tall stature—he stood 7′ 2½” – at age 36 he died of AIDS contracted from a blood transfusion. (Monster flicks are not a part of my limited movie experience.)

7. Michael C. Hall: Young tv actor on Six Feet Under and Dexter. (I’ve heard about Six Feet Under, but never seen it. I don’t like having to pay for tv reception and refuse to pay for “premium” channels.)

8. Patrick Hall: Could they mean the kid in his mid twenties who was on American Idol?! (Fame ain’t what it used to be.)

9. Philip Baker Hall: Character actor. (Didn’t recognize the name, but the face is familiar. I probably saw him in recent years on TV — Without A Trace, Boston Legal, and/or West Wing. Now you know what I watch.)

10. Regina Hall: Actress (She’s in a bunch of movies I’m not likely to ever see.)

11. Toby Hall: baseball catcher for the Dodgers. (I still think of them as the Brooklyn Dodgers, so you know that I’m not a good source for the current roster.)

12. Robert David Hall: Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Al Robbins from the original CSI. (Finally, one I knew – not by name, but unlike Philip Baker Hall who merely looked familiar, I could positively ID this body.)

Having nothing better to do – and desiring to perfect my skills in the craft of procrastination – I then tried my married name. They note 41,996 people in the U.S. with the last name Levy (tied with 57 other last names for 831st most popular last name) and cite three who are famous. Again, my cultural IQ seems lacking as I never heard of Canadian actor Eugene Levy; football coach Marv Levy, now general manager for the Buffalo Bills; or Shawn Levy, another actor/director with a list of credits for things I’ve never seen.

And now folks, I really do need to get back to work. With any luck, I’ll catch up with myself and get back to a more regular/consistent blogging schedule. Until then…