Seeing your own name in a book.

[Crosscheck]

Considering the number of people here and the volume of books read I just have to ask if anyone else has had a similar experience.
Years ago I was up late one night finishing a Stephen King book. I don't even remember which one it was now as I went through a period where I read everything he wrote. But it was so good that I couldn't put it down and was staying up late to finish it. So it is late and I read about a new character in the book who pullls up in a car and his name was Steve Edwards which is my name. I didn't even seeing it as I read the lines above it. But it totally blew me away to be totally engaged in a book then all of sudden see my name. It was a very odd experience. Kind of funny and kind of spooky when it is late at night and you are alone with a Stephen King novel. You almost expect to look around and see Allen Funt with a camera.

 

[liktareadmore63]

heh never happened to myself. kinda cool, id think though, do you remember if he was a main character? i wonder what book it was

 

[mehastings]

This hasn't ever happened to me and I'm certain it never will. My name isn't uncommon, but it's not nearly as common as Steve (especially the way I spell it). I hear they like the last name Hastings for men in romance novels though.

 

[Puddleglum]

Yeah it was weird. I was reading my autobiography the other day and there it was.


To be honest no and I doubt I ever will.

 

[Kookamoor]

Nope, never happened to me, and unlikely to as my name is rather uncommon.

But I do get a little freaked when I see my birthdate in print, particularly when evil or nasty things occur on it. I recall watching Unsolved Mysteries years ago, and my birthday was the date of a large fire captured on film by the arsonist, who was some freaky fellow who was whispering over the top of the film, "Look at the fire, watch it burn, watch it burn... etc". Freaked me right out. I still recall his exact voice over 10 years later. Yeah, I know there's only 366 days on which an event can occur, but it's still something that jars a little...

 

[Puddleglum]

Nope, never happened to me, and unlikely to as my name is rather uncommon.

But I do get a little freaked when I see my birthdate in print, particularly when evil or nasty things occur on it. I recall watching Unsolved Mysteries years ago, and my birthday was the date of a large fire captured on film by the arsonist, who was some freaky fellow who was whispering over the top of the film, "Look at the fire, watch it burn, watch it burn... etc". Freaked me right out. I still recall his exact voice over 10 years later. Yeah, I know there's only 366 days on which an event can occur, but it's still something that jars a little...

I know what you mean. The day I discovered I share a birthday with Matt and Luke Goss from Bros still freaks me out.

 

[Kookamoor]

I know what you mean. The day I discovered I share a birthday with Matt and Luke Goss from Bros still freaks me out.

Aaaaaargh! That's not cool at all!!

 

[wilderness]

well, its not really the same, but when ever i see the word explanation...i see my name (Lana) in it...so yer, thats most probably the closest I'll ever get to seeing my name in a book...unless i wrote to book the book...lol

Lani

 

[lies]

I think I'm the only person (dead or alive) with this particular name, so... It would definitely be creepy if I saw it in print somewhere.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

This hasn't happened to me, and I don't think it ever will having a reasonably uncommon name like Jacinta. My father picked my sister's name, Ayesha, from a book called She though (the name of the author seems to have slipped my mind ). Very cool though!

~MonkeyCatcher~

 

[clueless]

This hasn't happened to me, and I don't think it ever will having a reasonably uncommon name like Jacinta. My father picked my sister's name, Ayesha, from a book called She though (the name of the author seems to have slipped my mind ). Very cool though!

~MonkeyCatcher~

She is by Rider Haggard. There is a book called 'Fortunata and Jacinta', but of course the surname will be different.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

She is by Rider Haggard. There is a book called 'Fortunata and Jacinta', but of course the surname will be different.

Oh, thanks for that And yeah, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't couple it with my last name, which is /very/ uncommon (well here anyway)

~MonkeyCatcher~

 

[jenn]

well jennifer is obviously very common so i have seen it before, but never my full name. but once on law and order the murder victim's name was jennifer gorham.

 

[Herenya]

Not my first name and last name together. Seen my first name *yawns* nothing exciting there.
But the few books I've seen my surname in has been really, really freaky. There've only been two that come to mind, out of all the books I've read. (I can think of one series where the main character's surname is revealed at the end, and it's the same as mine... I didn't read actually the last books, but my friend did.)

What's really strange, though, is that I know there's a girl with same name as me who was born the same year I was who lives in the same city I do... I've never met her, but she goes to a friend's school. I went to one of their presentation-things, and I really freaked out when I heard "my" name being called.

 

[Wolhay]

My last name is close to extinction so I don't expect to see it.

I'm thrilled just to see my first name in a book. At least if it's a book by a non-scandinavian author, since my name isn't very common outside scandinavia.

It was used by Terry Pratchett in 'The Fifth Elephant' for an obvious reason but that just makes it more interesting to see that Pratchett has done his homework.

 

[Crosscheck]

heh never happened to myself. kinda cool, id think though, do you remember if he was a main character? i wonder what book it was

To answer your question. No, he wasn't a main character. He had only a one bit part in which he drove up in a car and a few paragraphs later he was gone from the book. It bugs me I can't remember which book. Am going to have to surf through some Stephen Kings to find it again someday.

It is still funny to me today after all these years at the freakiness of it. When it happened I was the only one awake in the house. It is so rare the first thing you want to do is share it with someone but I don't think my half asleep wife would of shared my excitement.

 

[geneviv]

Kookamor, I remember that episode of Unsolved Mysteries too! Two people found a video tape on the side of the road... A huge building was on fire and a man was talking over the video like you said. As I remember it he kept saying a name. "Watch the fire ____ ." I saw that when I was ten and it was so disturbing I still remeber it. I can appreciate how it freaked you out.

I've never seen my name in a book. It's not that unusual but it's not very catchy either.

 

[Kookamoor]

Kookamor, I remember that episode of Unsolved Mysteries too! Two people found a video tape on the side of the road... A huge building was on fire and a man was talking over the video like you said. As I remember it he kept saying a name. "Watch the fire ____ ." I saw that when I was ten and it was so disturbing I still remeber it. I can appreciate how it freaked you out.

Agh! I thought it was just me! Yeah, I remember that about the name, now... it wasn't so much what he said, though, as the way he whispered it. It was like a horror film. Brrr!

 

[Ronny]

I don't think I'll ever see my name, Maudaevee, either. I've never met anyone with the same name or that has even heard it before, although I am named after someone my Mom knew.

 

[namedujour]

But it totally blew me away to be totally engaged in a book then all of sudden see my name. It was a very odd experience.

The only time that ever happened to me was when I ordered one of those "personalized" books for kids. They love those by the way. Even though I ordered it, it still made me giggle to see all our names in print!