TChem was talking about last names and their commonness (or lack thereof) the other day.

My last name (which is supposedly Irish but was perhaps originally - I mean, like, pre-1066 originally - French) is fairly common, but not that common where I live now.

Also, I have my name in the phone book as Lastname, First-initial - because of years of being counseled as a Single Woman, that I Needed To Do That so I could avoid creepy bad phone calls from people who guessed I was a woman living alone from the lack of a male name.*

But you know? The creepy calls I've received in the past couple years have been:

about 8 calls from collection agencies all looking for women with the same last name as I have, but a different first name (but with the same initial)

a sheriff's call looking for someone with the same initials but a different name from me (And that was a creepy one - it was on Thanksgiving so I figured they were really looking for this woman, and not for a good reason.)

someone who apparently drunk-dialed late at night and left an incoherent message that I don't think was meant for me (I'm guessing that when drunk, it's kind of easy to, say, hit the "9" when you meant to hit the "8"). (And I was really, really glad I didn't get up out of bed to answer that phone call when I heard the phone ring at 2:30 that morning)

(*And yeah, I know, I could get all feminist on that concept, that women are expected to append themselves, nominally-speaking, to their male Significant Other, but I don't have the energy for that right now)

I got yet another collection-agency call today, looking for Ellen [MyLastName]. (Except I thought on the message they said, "L and L," like it was a business with two people). Now, because I am (a) an overly nice person and (b) always paranoid about identity theft (and, after all, a collection call when you know all your bills are paid up makes you wonder if there are bills you don't know about), I called them back.

Always a hassle. I had to finally hit the pound key - after being asked twice to "verify" by typing in the last four digits of my SSN (which I knew would do no good, as I was not Ellen [MyLastName].) I got someone and explained and they promised to take my name off of the database.

But - I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of having Lastname, FirstInitial listing in the phone book - I almost feel like not getting calls seeking someone who's either down on her luck or a deadbeat would be an acceptable tradeoff for the heavy-breather calls I MIGHT get.

I don't know. I hate phones anyway.