Name's the Same/Real Life: Difference between revisions

** "Kate" is short for her birth name "Catherine". Which she shares with '''Catherine Bush''', a successful novelist.

* '''Brett Butler''' is the name of [[wikipedia:Brett Butler (baseball)|a former MLB center fielder]], [[wikipedia:Brett Butler (comedian)|a stand-up comedian]] and former star of the ABC sitcom ''[[Grace Under Fire]]'', and [[wikipedia:Brett Butler (voice actor)|a stage and voice actor]] known for playing Dr. Quinn on ''[[Sealab 2021]]''.

== C ==

** What's more, its name was changed to Firebird because its original name, Phoenix, is also the (trademarked) name of a company that develops BIOS software for PCs.

** And then there's the Mozilla project's browser for Mac OS X only, Camino. It was originally called Chimera, but changed because several other pieces of software are also called Chimera (including a [https://web.archive.org/web/20010405072223/http://www.chimera.org/ very old web browser for UNIX]).

* An actor named '''"[[Ian Fleming]]"''' once had a minor role on an episode of ''[[The Prisoner]]''. He shared his name with the author of the [[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]] series.

* '''[[Harrison Ford]]''' shares a name with a [[Silent Movie|silent film]] actor, who famously had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame long before him.

* '''Alberto Gonzales''' is a former US Attorney General. '''Alberto Gonzalez''' is the name of a baseball player for the Washington Nationals. A different '''Alberto Gonzalez''' composed music for Infogrames' video games, and has written some [[Video Games/Awesome Music|Crowning Music of Awesome]] for the entire Game Boy system. And none of these are to be confused with '''Albert Gonzalez''', who hacked TJ Maxx' credit card processing system.

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzaal01.shtml Alex Gonzalez] and [http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzaal02.shtml Alex Gonzalez.] They play the same position as well (shortstop) but their careers had much more overlap. (Both even played for the Toronto Blue Jays, though not at the same time.)

* '''[[Dave Gorman]]'''. For those who don't know, Dave Gorman is a British comedian who started off by going through with a bet that "he couldn't get 50 Dave Gormans in the same room" (Paraphrased, may not have been 50). And he did. And later, he went around the world after being bet he couldn't "Meet 10 [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Define%3Agooglewhack&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a Googlewhacks] in a row when the latest link in the chain is only allowed to find him two more Googlewhacks". The second link in one of the chains he checked out was one of the Dave Gorman's he met previously.

** 54; and he didn't have to get them in the same room, just meet them. His Googlewhack show includes a great line from the other Dave Gorman; "Make yourself at home! You might as well, your name's on the mortgage..."

* A really old episode of ''[[Law and Order]]'' featured two actors who went by '''Phil Hoffman'''. One of them was ''Capote'' actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

* '''John Holmes''', porn star with a [[Bigger Is Better in Bed|massive wang]]. '''Jon Holmes''', Radio 4 satirist.

** Neither of whom should be confused with ''Antony'' (no "h") Hopkins, the composer and author of ''Understanding Music''.

* In Australia, '''John Howard''' is an actor... and a ''[[Australian Politics|former Prime Minister]]''. The actor has been hired to make the joke at least twice: once in ''[[The Games]]'' (hired [[Show Within a Show|within the show]] specifically to fool foreigners) and again in ''[[News Parody|CNNNN]]'' (mistaken for the other one by the presenter).

* When you say '''iFanboy''' you're either talking about an overzealous [[Apple Macintosh|Apple Inc.]] enthusiast or [http://www.ifanboy.com a really great comics discussion site] with podcasts you can download off of Apple's iTunes player.

* [[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] creator '''[[Keiji Inafune]]'''. After his split from [[Capcom]] [http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/10/keiji-inafune-record-of-agarest-war-director-disgaea-artist-together-for-rpg/ people thought he was doing a game named] ''Overwhelming Game Infinite Souls''. [http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/18/the-keiji-inafune-you-know-is-not-making-compile-hearts-infinite-souls/ Turns out it was someone else with the same name.] Notable for even affecting this wiki.

== J ==

** Also DJ Premier's real name is ''also'' Chris Martin.

* '''Jessica Martin''': A British actress who voiced Empyrea in ''[[Dragon Quest]] VIII'', or a Seattle actress who voiced Samus in ''[[Metroid: Other M]]''? Or a British model?

* '''[[Billy Mays]]''', the famed infomercial man who died in June 2009, was the second Billy Mays. His father is Billy Mays Senior, and his son is known as Billy Mays III. During his televised memorial service, Billy Mays III said that he was giving serious thought to naming his first son Billy Mays IV.

** Not to mention the baseball player Willie Mays...

* '''[[Alan Moore]]''': famous writer of comic books, or former drummer for [[Judas Priest]]?

* Speaking of NHL Hall of Famers, '''Dickie Moore''' shares the same name as a former member of [[The Little Rascals]].

** Or an early editor of ''Dragon Magazine'', who once ran a letter praising his work in the [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] films in the letters column of an [[Practical Joke|April issue]]?

* '''Natalie Morales''': One is a host on NBC's ''Today Show'' the other you might know as either Wendy Watson from ''[[The Middleman]]'' or Lauren Cruz on ''[[White Collar]]''. The latter gets confused for the former ''a lot'' on [http://www.twitter.com/nataliemorales Twitter].

* There are two running backs in the NFL named '''Adrian Peterson'''. Adrian Lewis Peterson is a Pro Bowl and potential Hall of Fame halfback for the Minnesota Vikings, and Adrian Nicholas Peterson is a marginal role player who most recently played halfback for the Chicago Bears.

* '''Scott Peterson''': Do you mean the [[wikipedia:Scott Peterson|convicted murderer]], the one who writes for [[Phineas and Ferb]], or the [[wikipedia:Scott Peterson (comics)|comic writer/editor?]]

* One-time [["God Is Love" Songs|Contemporary Christian]]-turned-mainstream singer '''Leslie "Sam" Phillips''' is a doozy depending on which name is being mentioned. If using "Sam" (a childhood nickname that she has recorded under since starting her mainstream career), that name is shared with Sam Phillips, the model and actress and Sam Phillips, the early rock-and-roll producer who discovered, among others, [[Elvis Presley]] and [[Johnny Cash]]. More confusing, her birth name of Leslie Phillips (used during her CCM days) is shared with British actor Leslie Phillips.

* The Channel 10 network in Australia has a reporter named '''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'''. Recently, they added a Hermione, and one of their news anchors goes by the admittedly common name of Ron.

** Another played American football for the Green Bay Packers.

** Then there's the actor [[James Arnold Taylor]].

* '''Richard Taylor''' created some truly [[Visual Effects of Awesome]]: One for ''[[Tron]]'' and one for [[The Lord of the Rings (film)|WETA]] (I'm pretty sure these were two different people because when one Richard was creating ''Tron'' in America the other was making puppets from things found while dumpster diving in New Zealand).

* '''Roger Taylor''' of [[Queen]] did not play drums in [[Duran Duran]]. That was the other Roger Taylor.

** Interestingly, Waites' character in the film has trouble establishing any kind of transmission to the outside world, and is named Windows. Russel's character is an alcoholic loner who destroys his computer after it beats him at chess, and is named Mac. Neither operating system existed when the film came out.

** Maybe Mac owns a certain blue blob called [[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends|Bloo]]...

*** And a [[The Threepenny Opera|Knife]].

* '''Scott Walker''' is an American-born British singer who had success in the 1960s and 1970s, both with the Walker Brothers and as a solo act; and a Wisconsin governor who came under fire in 2011 over his plan to suspend collective bargaining rights for most of the state's public-sector employees; and a longtime NHL hockey player.

* '''Josh Weinstein''' is a former writer for ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Another Josh Weinstein is a former cast member on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' and writer for ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' (and current ''[[Cinematic Titanic]]'' cohost). Perhaps to clear up the confusion, the latter has taken to billing himself as ''[[Awesome McCoolname|J. Elvis Weinstein]]''.

* '''Bob Welch''' is either a former baseball pitcher for the Dodgers and A's, or a singer who used to be with [[Fleetwood Mac]].

* '''[[WETA]]''': Consistant creators of awesome visual effects ([[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]], [[King Kong]], [[District 9]], [[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]) or Washington DC-based station who helped make Ken Burns' ''[[Baseball]]'' documentary?

** Or a giant flightless cricket from New Zealand, which the former is named after.

** There's also Bryan "Baby" Williams aka Birdman, co-founder of [[Glam Rap|Cash Money Records]].

* There are two musicians named '''[[John Williams]]'''. One's a film composer, one's a classical guitarist. Try not to confuse them.

** John Williams was also a British character actor who had memorable supporting roles in a couple of [[Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]] films.

** There were also two NBA players in the late [[The Eighties|1980s]]/early [[The Nineties|1990s]] named John Williams. One was known as "Hot Rod" Williams; the other was nicknamed "Hot Plate" due to his ample weight.