This is an all-ears English podcast episode 21-88.
Same name? How to connect over this commonality.
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What can you say when you meet someone with the same name?
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Hey there, Michelle. How's everything going today?
Good, good. Everything is good. How are you?
I'm feeling good. I'm feeling fresh this morning, ready for a big snow storm here in Denver. So yay.
Ooh, okay.
Oh, good luck. Lindsay, is Lindsay a pretty common name, right?
To frequently meet a lot of people with your name?
Annoyingly yes. I say that because my parents, I was born in 81 and I actually, I assert that I was an early Lindsay.
And my parents would always say Lindsay was kind of a new name.
Was actually, I think, more a male name. It is a male. It's a gender neutral name, but it or not.
I think historically more in England and Ireland, it was used as a male's name.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, Lindsay Graham, right?
Oh, true.
Yeah. And so I think I was like at the cutting edge of the name, but then the millennials who are like five, six, seven years older,
then the name became super popular. And so now it's just a common name.
So that's my gripe.
That's your gripe. That's your gripe.
What we're going to be talking about this today, this is your idea for a topic.
I am super excited for this episode. I think it's so fun.
It's so specific.
Is there any chance, Lindsay, that you would find this episode topic, this, this, this situation in a textbook?
Do you think I really doubt it would have to be quite the textbook?
And I would probably buy that textbook if it showed up.
So we're doing this here. This came from a moment when I was on the treadmill at Orange Theory.
And there happened to be a Lindsay right next to me.
And we struck up a conversation.
Of course we did because that's what you do.
Right. When you see someone or meet someone with your name, it always happens.
So it's a connection moment, Michelle.
Oh, it for sure.
So we're going to get more into this today.
I'm excited.
Guys, keep on listening.
Make sure that you don't stop listening.
And at the end of the episode, we are going to have a key poll.
Guys, we've been doing these really fun, informative key polls through Spotify.
If you listen to Spotify, you will be able to get a poll question and answer it.
It's a great way to interact with us.
And we get to learn about you.
We will announce the results of the poll in a future episode.
So I love this.
So keep on listening.
We're going to give you that poll at the end.
Yeah, guys.
And don't forget to hit that follow button now.
If you love the kinds of episodes we do, we go very in depth with the English language.
And we focus heavily on connection.
If you love our style, go ahead and hit the follow button.
So you don't miss a single episode, right, Michelle?
Absolutely.
Okay.
So Lindsay, how do you feel when you meet somebody with your name?
Like when you met this girl at Orange Theory, what was your reaction?
You know, there's always a smile.
There's an immediate sense of connection for sure.
Even though you're not going to become best friends, probably.
There's a moment of connection, which is kind of nice, right?
It's fun.
It's like, among all these other people, these strangers in this room,
you and I have this connection so we can enjoy that moment.
I mean, these are the moments of life, right, Michelle, that we want to focus on and know what to do.
So yeah, I think it's fun.
It is fun.
Well, don't you think it would be weird if you didn't react?
If you just said, hi, I'm Lindsay and somebody said,
hi, I'm Lindsay.
And that was it.
It would just feel empty.
You were giving up an opportunity to have a connection moment.
You can't not react.
I have to do something.
So that's and I'm sure the four listeners for you guys,
I'm sure in your native language, you do something, right?
You don't just move on with your day.
There's some kind of micro moment of connection.
So now today, it's all about showing you how to do that in English.
So I'm excited.
Yes.
Yes.
Exactly.
All right.
So guys, if you haven't already head on over to episode 2181 of All Year's English,
this was you can rely upon us for English grammar.
Yes.
That was a good one.
So, okay, let's get into it.
So I think people normally get pretty excited about sharing names.
Lindsay, what are some of the common names in our generation ish
that you can think of?
Well, grudgingly our names, Lindsay and Michelle are both pretty common.
Ashley, Sarah, Jennifer, Jessica is a common name.
Jessica, four men, John, my, when I was a kid in school, I remember,
it was always Sarah, John, Mike and Katie,
Katie or Katie, super common names for Ryan is also a common one.
Yeah.
And I don't know.
I feel like the typical men's names, I feel like a lot of them are still popular today.
Whereas I don't know.
I feel like the women's names have changed a lot more.
I don't know if that's true though.
Yeah, I mean, there are some steady ones like David has always been a common name.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Some that kind of are timeless.
They go over the generations.
I guess John and Mike also very timeless.
I suppose.
Although I don't know too many young kids named John or Mike, I don't know.
Who knows, right?
Well, what's actually, it's funny with the name Michelle,
because I don't think there are babies being named Michelle.
But I think there are babies being named
my little boys being named Michael still.
I don't know.
I feel like Michael is still in for a boy and Michelle is out.
I haven't seen any baby in Michelle's.
So it's definitely, I look, we're having fun talking about it.
It's just a fun topic, right?
And as you get older, if you have children,
you can come back to the topic too.
It's also fun to think about naming your child,
which I think we've probably done some episodes on that before.
Common names in the US and that kind of thing.
But where are we taking this one today, Michelle?
Let's talk about this connection moment,
because if this happens to you, you definitely want to connect.
So let's talk about a few steps you can take.
Lindsay, what is the first step?
Yeah, so acknowledge, just kind of name the thing,
that's a little awkward, but a little fun at the same time.
So you could say, for example, ah, or hi, I'm also Lindsay.
So let's say someone introduced themselves to me and said,
hi, I'm Lindsay and I say, oh, hi, I'm also Lindsay.
So you wouldn't say hi, I'm Lindsay.
Right. You want to just say hi, I'm Lindsay.
Unless you were saying it in a cute way, maybe I'm Lindsay.
That's the difference.
You could do that.
I am.
You could, you could actually, and that would be it.
I would put that on the list.
Yeah, because it's kind of fun.
It's kind of playful.
Maybe I would use that more in a party where we have mutual friends.
And I know I'm going to be more around this person.
I'm going to be a little more playful.
Rather than just an orange theory, the person next to me on the treadmill.
It's going to be a little more straightforward.
The way I connect with that person.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Or you could say my name's your name too.
So my name's Michelle too.
Yeah.
Or you could say that's my name.
Right.
So again, the person says hi, I'm Lindsay.
And I say, oh, that's my name.
All right.
Good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
Maybe we should do another episode.
An similar vein is connecting through birthdays.
A lot of times.
Oh, oh, my birthday next month.
Oh, my birthday.
Oh, what's your day?
There's always people are always excited to find out.
They have similar birthday.
Or my dad's born on that.
Right.
And then people go into star signs and personalities.
And it's a big opener for sure.
Hi, is it a hit the follow button if you love this kind of topic?
I'm gonna have for sure.
And by the way, I want to highlight a bonus episode, Michelle,
that you just said in a similar vein.
Are we talking about veins in our?
In our arms.
Not in a similar vein.
No.
In a similar vein.
It's just a similar idea, a similar thing.
Similar drinking.
So yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So that's an, so we'll come back to that one in another episode.
Yeah.
Okay.
So first step is acknowledge.
What would be the next thing you would do?
Spelling if it comes up.
So this doesn't necessarily happen if it's a name
that's always spelled the same.
But there are so many names that are spelled
in many different ways.
And Lindsey, you and I have names
that have different spelling.
So Lindsey, how do you spell your name
and how do some other Lindsey you spell their name?
Yeah.
So I spell my name with an AY,
which doesn't exactly make sense
because the more logical spelling of Lindsey would be EY.
And that's what the other half of the population has.
And then there are of course outliers
who have different L-I-N-Z-Y
or something creative that their parents came up with.
Most people though are AY and EY.
What about Michelle?
Yeah.
So Michelle, the thing that is always the commentary
is how many Ls are in the name.
So it's always one L or two Ls.
So I have two Ls,
but sometimes I made a Michelle with one L.
And it looks so weird to me
because I'm so, yeah, it's so different from what I'm used to.
And so there's always kind of a quick response
a way of asking this, right?
So for Lindsey, it's always,
oh, AY or EY, that's what I'll ask.
Or that's what, and what about you?
Right.
One L or two.
Okay.
So if you have, if you have, I mean,
let's just go over some names
that might have different spellings.
Like, yeah, there's Megan.
Megan can be spelled in a few different ways,
but I've seen an MEGAN,
or sometimes there's an H.
So MEGAN.
So a Megan might say H or no H.
Something like that.
Yeah.
And I don't know exactly for each of these
because I haven't had that conversation, right?
But something in that neighborhood, right?
Steven would be, you can spell it with a V,
S-T-E-V-E-N, or S-T-E-P-H-E-N.
So maybe someone might say V or P-H.
Right.
And sometimes the P-H is pronounced Stefan.
It gets confusing.
Oh, yeah.
Or Robbie or with an I-E at the end or with a Y.
Or even John, you know,
sometimes it's J-O-H-N.
Sometimes it's just J-O-N.
So there are, I mean, there are so many examples
of difference spellings with names.
So this is probably a step that might happen in a conversation.
Yeah.
And this is one each of our listeners has to figure out
what that response is based on prior conversations.
We can't tell you because the only one I really know,
like for sure, is how I say it with other Lindsay's.
A-Y or E-Y.
It's very short and sweet, but we all know it.
It's coming and that's what you say.
Okay.
Right.
Right.
And if you're not sure if there's that special,
specific way of spelling in a different way,
you could always say, oh, how do you spell it?
Sure.
And then, sure.
I know you're sorry.
Oh, I love it.
So so far, we're talking about acknowledging
that we have the same name
and then asking about spelling if it applies.
Right, Michelle?
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
We're back, Michelle, for number three.
What would be something else that we could say?
So the third one is just a little bit something extra.
So something to add on.
So maybe how common it is if it feels right.
Right.
And you could, this doesn't have to be in the complete right order.
You could talk about this before the spelling or whatever,
but you could do a joke or some commentary.
If you share the same name,
you're going to share something.
So think about what ties you to your name
and how others might identify that as well
if they have the same name.
Yeah.
Another example would be if your name
starts with like an X or Y or Z
talking about coming last in alphabetical order
if it's by first name or last name
that actually could go for last names too.
Right.
And what else?
So let's give some examples, right?
So did your teachers always mispronounce your name?
And that's actually a big connection moment
because if this was a source of challenge for you
as a kid in school,
you're both going to have had that going to have had that.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Or you could say,
do people always spell your name wrong?
So maybe we both spell our name like maybe
how you were talking about Lindsay,
maybe AY, maybe EY,
but maybe there's a completely different way,
an alternative way that people spell it.
And if you meet someone who spells it like that too,
you might say, oh, did people always spell your name wrong?
Exactly.
Or if you're Nate,
if this is a special moment,
like a once in a lifetime, twice in a lifetime,
and it's not commonly shared,
I never meet anyone with my name.
Oh, wow, you have my name.
I never meet anyone with the same name.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Say that.
Okay.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Or something just similar to
or did you like your name growing up?
Sorry.
Yeah.
So, I mean, Lindsay, do you like your name?
These days less and less because I realized it's become common.
I liked it when I was a kid.
I thought it was unique and new, but not anymore.
I think every, like I said, everyone after me.
And just, yeah, I think you don't have to do this extra step, right?
But if it feels right,
if you're in a place where there's space to speak and have the conversation, right?
Exactly.
If you are two people running on your treadmill next to each other
and you're huffing and puffing,
you don't need to go through all the steps.
Maybe you talk about with them after or
you have to evaluate how much time you have for this conversation,
how open this person seems to talking.
But you have some tools now that you can use.
Right.
And you could also just make a commentary on how calm,
if your name is common, I don't think we really said this.
You could say, oh, it's so common these days, right?
Something like that.
Okay.
That would be good.
Yes.
That would definitely be good.
And it's funny because then names become,
I mean, there are no babies named Michelle now,
but if I have grandchildren one day,
they might be named Michelle and they'll think of it.
It's all the names.
It's cyclical.
So a name now,
little babies are being named old lady names.
Yes.
There are no new names.
There are very few new names, right?
Right.
We think they're new,
but they're just coming back around from three generations back.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So let's do a role play.
Let's put it all together.
Here, you are not Lindsey and I am not Michelle.
We are both Alison.
Okay.
Sounds good.
All right.
Here we go.
Hey, I'm Alison.
Hi.
I'm also Alison.
Oh, too funny.
One L or two.
Two.
I'm two.
Oh, wait.
Oops.
I'll die.
I'm one.
You're just.
That's just so.
It's great.
Okay.
All right.
Guys, let's try this again.
Okay.
Let's go to that.
Learning over.
Starting over.
Here we go.
Oh, hey, hey, I'm Alison.
Hi, I'm also Alison.
Oh, too funny.
One L or two.
Two.
I'm one.
Ah, the wrong spelling.
Haha.
Yeah, the wrongs, but right.
So you could tease someone also very common saying,
oh, you're spelling it wrong.
But you're not serious, of course.
No.
You're just making a fun joke and a smile.
Everyone's going to smile at that.
Okay.
Good.
Yes.
So what do we say here, Michelle?
Real quick.
Okay.
So I said, hi, you said, hey, I'm Alison.
And I said, hi, I'm also Alison.
So acknowledging.
Mm-hmm.
And then I said, too funny.
One L or two.
So I'm, what is too funny?
It's too funny that we obviously.
Yeah.
Right.
And it sounds like I'm introducing it in a funny way.
Hey, I'm also Alison.
Right.
Exactly.
And then I ask you about spelling.
And then you say two, right?
And then of course, I have a different.
So I say, oh, I'm one.
Meaning I have one L in my name.
Okay.
Right.
Right.
So this is, this next part is really the something extra here.
I'm just teasing.
Ah, they're wrong spelling.
And this kind of comes down to identity as well.
You can go one level deeper with the person
if they spell it the same way.
Because then you can have a commentary
about all those other guys that spell it EY.
They're wrong.
Right.
Right.
Right.
So there's a lot with the spelling
that can lead you to more conversation, actually.
Yeah, there are like layers of connection we can get to.
Or we could keep it as simple as greeting the person
in the gym on the treadmill next to us.
But we have options here.
So Michelle, we have a poll for our listeners today
to finish off the episode.
Yeah.
Okay.
Absolutely, guys.
If you're listening on Spotify,
you can interact with us in this poll now.
So the poll question is,
do you like your name?
Yes or no?
Yeah, there's no in between.
You can't say sort of.
Over kind of, you have to say yes or no.
Love it.
Can't wait to see the results of that.
And Michelle, what's our takeaway for today?
Okay.
Well, this is a huge connection point.
This is a lot of fun.
You want to acknowledge it in some way.
It would be weird not to have any acknowledgement,
any reaction at all.
Like Lindsay said, you probably do this in your first language.
You probably have a way of doing this.
So this is not going to be a new idea to you.
But it's just a fun way to get to know people
and follow those three steps, right?
So we've broken it down to for you,
acknowledge and spelling if necessary.
And then something extra.
All right.
Good. I mean, look at where we can find connection.
It's kind of lurking everywhere.
The opportunities for connection, Michelle.
This is a great one.
And we can take it as far as we want.
If we're at a party, mutual friends,
that could become the beginning of a friendship.
Who knows?
Yeah.
It could be a simple greeting.
And then you move on with your day or your workout
or your work day, whatever it is.
So you have options, guys.
All right. Good stuff.
That was fun.
That was fun.
Thanks for the topic, Lindsay.
All right. Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
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