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Regular folks with famous names learn to laugh
A few mix-ups, more humor involved for people with well-known monikers
Friday, Nov. 28, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Is George W. Bush contemplating the fate of the free world? Even if he is, it's not really his problem. The Great Mills native, 57, has encountered some interesting moments as a person with the same name as the president.
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George W. Bush knows how to fix things.
No, not the George W. Bush whose performance after Hurricane Katrina, in the early phases of the Iraq War and now in the financial meltdown has received so much scrutiny. We're talking about the handyman from St. Mary's County.
It was 1981 when George W. Bush of Great Mills first started getting name recognition for having the same name as the vice president of the United States, George H. W. Bush. It wasn't until Bush became the 41st president that Bush, 57, said he got name recognition all the time.
"Especially after [George H. W. Bush] became president, that's when it really started," he said.
Bush said it was mostly name recognition and some wisecracks about the coincidence when Bush Sr. was in office.
"Your name is George Bush, you must be Republican." He recalled as one of many comments he heard over and over again.
The coincidence became even more pronounced when he shared his name with the 43rd president. This time around he shared the first name, last name and middle initial.
"It got really crazy when his son came in [to office]," Bush said.
Bush recalls going to the doctor's office or the bank or anyplace where you write your name down to be called. When someone would come back to the waiting room to call for Bush, he said usually they would yell it pretty loud.
"George W. Bush," he recalled hearing from nurses and bank tellers over the years, and he remembers the smirks on their faces each time.
"It has its good times and its bad times," Bush, a Barack Obama supporter in the recent election, said of sharing the name of the president.
Finally there came a time where George W. Bush the president caused Bush's name to become the butt of so many jokes that he decided to just write down G. Bush whenever prompted to write his name.
Quincy Jones
Like Bush, many Southern Maryland residents answer to "famous names." Some were named after famous individuals while others' names became famous over time like Quincy Jones of Waldorf.
Jones, 65, got his name playing basketball in high school. Born Melvin Jones, he said he always got grief from his coaches about straightening up during lay-ups. His high school nickname was at first Humpback, followed by Humpback Q. One day, he said a spectator yelled out Quincy, and the name stuck.
Jones said he went by Quincy Jones from that point on, even before he knew of the famous music producer, the man partly responsible for the sound of Michael Jackson and producer of the "We Are the World" hit song and charity benefit.
As the fame of the famous Quincy Jones grew stronger, so did the shoe repair man's name.
"It caused me a lot of popularity," he said.
More than anything, Jones said he gets a kick out of sharing a famous name because of people's reactions.
"It's comical," he said.
Jones said people would ask if he were the real Quincy. "Of course I am the real Quincy," Jones recalled replying.
Jones said many people don't believe him, replying "oh yeah, right," he recalled.
Jones said he usually asks them what they would say if he said his name were James Brown, or Jackie Robinson.
He said those he meets who do believe him can go home and say they met Quincy Jones.
Writing and producing songs and repairing shoes are vastly different skills. However, both Quincys are recognized for what they do. Jones said he enjoys the work Quincy Jones has produced over the years and doesn't mind the name recognition. Jones himself has made a name for himself at his Waldorf shoe repair shop since 1960.
Stephen King
Stephen King of St. Leonard also doesn't mind sharing a famous name. King has lived most of his life sharing a name with a famous thriller author of books such as "IT" and "Pet Semetary."
There has never been anything thrilling about sharing the author's name, in fact, he mostly remembers the funny stories associated with his name.
While attending college at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. King first noticed that no other student he knew of had his name. He also noticed that his first semester he never received a single bill for his college tuition.
It wasn't until the end of the semester that he discovered that a second Stephen King had been getting all of his bills. Not only did King attend college with another Stephen King, but he ended up being in the same fraternity with him and had class with two additional famous names. Students sharing the names of Eric Estrada of the T.V. series "C.H.I.P.S." and Cheryl Ladd, one of the three women detectives in TV jiggle drama "Charlie's Angels," were in King's biology class.
King thought it was amazing "when you have all those oddities collect."
King, who is the vice principal of the Calvert Career Center, will gladly place his autograph on school related papers, car notes and birthday cards, but he admits he is not a fan of the author's genre of writing.
He does, however, like King's work when it comes to "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" which were both outside of the thriller category.
Jack Johnson
Another nonfan of his name's fame is Jack Johnson of California. Johnson, 20, said he is not a fan of the singer-songwriter's music, which has been described as acoustic soft rock. Johnson's name became most recognizable in 2001 with his album "Brushfire Fairytales."
Johnson said his name gets recognized a lot, especially when he's working at Game Stop in California where he has to wear a name tag.
Johnson, who also works with children with the before- and after-care programs for St. Mary's County, said children recognize his name a lot too.
"It's a conversation starter," Johnson said.
Johnson said sharing a famous name doesn't bother him and he has made a few acquaintances when conversations started over his famous name over the years.
Paul Newman
Paul Newman, 80 of Edgewater said sharing a name with the famous actor caused many times when people would "expect to see someone who didn't show up," he said.
Newman said he used to travel to the Los Angeles area to see family during the 1960s and often airline stewardesses and others would expect to see the famous Paul Newman when his name appeared on a flight ticket or a reserved seat at a show in L.A.
Newman recalled going to see the "Tonight Show" and audience members saw the name Paul Newman on the seat reserved for the Edgewater Newman and mistook it for the actor. They were quite surprised to see the Newman who actually showed up instead of Newman the actor.
"It's a disappointment to other people," he said of the many who thought they would meet the actor.
I usually announce "I'm Paul Newman with brown eyes," he said.
During the height of Newman's acting career, name recognition and expectations from people of the wrong Newman grew strong enough that when traveling Newman would simply use the initials P.E.N. rather than Paul Newman.
As the famous Newman's acting career waned, the name recognition lessened as well.
Newman said one of his favorite famous name stories came when he was traveling to New York City.
Newman said the stewardess was checking the manifest, and gave Newman a perplexed look when matching the face to the name. On that same flight was the real Jimmy Doolittle, the commander of the first air raid to strike Japan in 1942.
King, the sequel
King said sharing a famous name doesn't bother him much either. He said his daughter plays it up when she can.
Katie, 14, said it's funny whenever people ask her father to sign a document.
"Whenever people ask him to sign something he'll say ‘here I'll give you a free autograph,'" she said.
Kings teenage son is also named Stephen, and he too gets the name recognition a lot.
Katie said her father's name recognition is funny and that her father will joke about it when given the opportunity, which, according to King, happens a lot.
Many times, like Jones and Bush, King will be asked if Stephen King is actually his name.
"Yes, and I have got a driver's license to prove it," he replies.
Sometimes, Katie said her dad will ignore some of the comments made to him about his famous name.
Bush's second term
Bush on the other hand, over the 16 years his name has been in use at the White House, has had more than just recognition on the streets. Bush, who has lived in Washington, D.C., and in Waldorf said he has gotten many phone calls about the two presidencies from people thinking he was the president.
Bush said he got most of his calls when he was living in Waldorf. He said people from other states would call the operator looking for George Bush and the operator would give out the St. Mary's Bush's listing.
He recalled getting many calls in the middle of the night. Most memorable he said was from a lady in Mississippi who he said had been going through some hard times. Even though he first explained to the lady he was not in fact the president of the United States, he stayed up talking with her and trying to help her.
Bush's daughter Thomasa Bush, 35, said she had many memories of growing up the daughter of George W. Bush.
She said whenever people would ask for her father's name, she would proudly say her father's name was George Bush and she said many people didn't believe it.
The most memorable story she said was when she would make collect calls to her father.
She said she would tell the operator that she would like to make a collect call to George W. Bush and provide the number. Thomasa Bush recalled the operator on many occasions asking her if she thought George Bush would accept the charges.
"He always accepts it," she recalled telling the operator.
Thomasa said now that Barack Obama is the president-elect, the name recognition may never stop.
"People will always remember the legacy of George W. Bush," she said.
And like the many other people who share a famous name, Bush will continue to get asked about his name or pull out his license to prove it as King does.
King said he is asked about his name wherever he goes.
"If I had a nickel for every time, I would be a millionaire," he said.
gphillips@somdnews.com
