Multiple Members- Same/Similar Names???
 

While I was in college my chapter had:

3 Katie's
3 Megan M.'s (yes all their last names began with M)
2 Nicole's
2 Natalie's
2 Melissa's
3 Jennifer's
2 Carrie's
2 Ashley's

I think that was all of our duplicates...

Common names in APO:

Guys:
Andy
Michael/Mike
Chris

Women:
Jennifer
Heather

My chapter was a small chapter in comparison to our chapters on the mainland, but for some reason we ended up with multiple:

Katies (it didn't help when one was Katie and the other KT)
Jennifers
Nicoles (one was called Nicole, the other Kolee)
Sarahs (we had big Sarah and little Sarah and they both hated it)
Maile/Mai Ly (our chapter advisor)

[Shima-Mizu will get a kick out of this...]

When my husband joined his fraternity and became a Sinfonian, there were multiple men with common names. Out of 60 brothers:

There were three guys named Joel; :)

There were two Nathans and two or three Tims and two or three Toms;

There were about three guys named Mike or Michael;

There were at least three guys named Chris or Christopher, to the point where one was "Topher" (and this was years before Topher Grace or anyone I knew ever had the name Topher);

and (drumroll...)

There were NINE guys named Dave or David, to the point where one of them was just called "Id". Teske, Motz, Bauder, Ashby, Loy, Settje, Palmer, Petzold, Lindstedt. The first six I knew from memory, too.

I checked his list of family trees to help my memory, and discovered that there was a family line where a big brother David had a little named David had a little named David had a little named David. Four in a row! Though only two or three would have been brothers at the same time...

at one point we had 7 or 8 jennifers, myself included. we all had different nicknames ;)

we also had a bunch of laura and laurens.

2 stephanies
2 marys
2 jessicas
2 tonis
2 julies

i'm sure there were more. . .

...if I had a nickle for every "Amanda" our chapter has...

:p

we have a lot of girls with the same last name

you'd have a quarter!!
we have...

5 Amandas
4 Stephanies
3 Ashleys
3 Katie B's (i hate it! each of us spells katy/katie/catie differently though)
3 Sarahs

we used to have like 6 jessicas too, but only one is left.

Although we were a small chapter, I think we had multiple "Jenny"'s....although none of us spelled it that way! (and we all had unique nicknames that none of us were ever called Jenny/Jenni/Jennie). I know we also had multiple Rachel's, and there may have been multiple Katie's/Kate's (it's been a while since I've looked at a list of our chapter members that were there at similar times as one another) :o

Our current chapter has:

2 Alicia's (both with the same last initial)

2 Tiffany's

4 Ashley's

Kelli, Kellye, Kelley, and Kelly (three of whom have the same last initial)

...but before graduation we had Ebone and Ebony (we also have an Ebonique!) not to mention several people with the same last names.

We had 4 Rachels at once (actually, 2 Rachels and 2 Rachaels) in a chapter of around 20 actives. Two of them were in the same pledge class and had nearly identical last names.

Kappa Phi Club at Kent State
 

2 Nikkis (same EXACT spelling)
2 Megans
2 Erins
3 Jens & a Guinevere who goes by "Genni"
2 girls named: Amanda and Mandy, both of which go by either name

If I missed anything, JocelynC can probably fill in the rest.

I think at one time, we had 4 Jasons.

And no other duplicate names.

Not the same thing but in the pledge class a few years after me we had girls with the last name of

Champagne, Beers, and Horney.

We weren't quite sure if that was foreshadowing of how crazy they would be!!! But they all were awesome.

I can't think of any other names that really stuck out. Maybe Allison, but that's the only one that comes to mind...

10% of my chapter is named Matt. (5 of them)

I think that is a lot of Matt's.

Also

2 doug's
2 Rick's
3 mike's
3 Adam's
2 Erik's
2 Brian's
2 Dave's

I never noticed we had soo many duplicate names before, no wonder we give out soo many nicknames.

We had many girls named Amy, Kim, Lisa and later on, Jen.

5 Katies with all different chapter nicknames...but the rest of them graduated and i hope that we don't take any new Katies as new members!!! i want my individuality back :(

We also have 6 or 7 Megs and Meghans.

We had...

3 Nicole's (one went by Nikki, thankfully)
2 Ashley's
2 Sarah's
2 Amanda's
2 Shannons

For a chapter of only 15 - 30 girls, that's a lot :)

There used to be a lot of Laura's and Erin's, and so we just called them all by their first name and last initial when referring to them, but then we ended up with two Brittany M.'s, which wasn't too convenient, because we'd end up saying their entire names. One Brittany actually depledged (which was a shame, she was a sweetheart, but she was very involved in Delta Sigma Pi as well) but both of the Brittany's almost ended up with the same Big sister which would have been interesting.

We have lots of Megans, Lindsays, Katies, etc. The funniest thing was we had three Megans with last names Kenny, Kelly, and Cowley. That got confusing because they all sound so much alike :)

Let's see, <pulls out composite>

Last year we had

9 Matt's (all go by last names)
2 Stu's
4 Ryan's
5 Adam's
2 Jason's
2 Jeff's/ 1 Geoff
2 Mark's
6 Dan's
3 Dave's
2 Neil's
5 Jon/John/Jonathan's
3 Nate's
3 Andy's (all in one pledge class)
2 Jared's
2 Justin's


So a lot more than half (57/82) guys have names that are repeated. I never even realized this at all. I guess you just get used to calling most people by their last names and you ignore the repeated names...

We used to play a game every year at chapter retreat where everyone lines up alphabetically by first name. You can't say your name as you're assembling, but you can give other clues as you shuffle in order (this activity includes all new members and all initiated members).

Everyone participates in this and soon, assemble a long line from A-Z. Then, starting with the first girl, everyone says her own name. It's really funny to hit the "Sara" and "Jennifer" groups--- usually a lot! But ironically one year, we had "Abbey," "Abby" and "Abbi." All within consecutive new member classes, too! :)

Last year we had:

5 Jennifer's (we called them a combination of Jennifer's, Jenny's, and Jen's)
4 Kristen's (two were Kristin and two were Kristen)
4 Ashley's (all spelled the same)
3 Amy's (one was Aimee)
3 Lauren's
2 Laura's
2 Emily's
2 Leah's
2 Claire's
2 Anna's
2 Meredith's
2 Beth's
2 Lindsay's
2 Jessica's
2 Rebecca's
2 Kim's

Our most unusual names: Fiona, Arielle, Benni, and Calley.

<hijack>

During one afternoon of freshman orientation, we used to do a team-building type of thing for the incoming freshman class. We were broken off into groups of 20 or so and did things like trust falls.

One of the things we had to do was line up in order of birthday. We were not allowed to talk.

I simply pulled out my driver's license... :p

</hijack>

when i was in school we had:

2 Christina's (one was Stina)
2 Kim's (one went by Kimberlee)
2 Laura's (one was Laura Beth though, and went by LBD- her initials)

Unusual: Rochelle, Victoria

We basically had almost no repeats of names. Crazy, huh?

Last year we had:

2 Megans
1 Britney
1 Brittany
1 Brittny
2 Jessicas
1 Kari
1Carey
1 Kari


It was all very confusing!!! :)

Last Semester we had
5 Stephanies
2 Danielles
2 Dianas
2 Megans
2 Shannons and one Shanna
and
2 Debbys

At some point or another we had/have:

6 Jennas/Jens/Jennifers (myself included) and they all went by Jen
3 Melissas
3 Laurens
2 Candaces
3 Lisas
2 Rosas

a few years ago we had 5 actives of about 25 named jennifer - but oddly enough never more than one in the same pledge class. we also at one point had a marina, sarina and sabina which was sometimes confusing for the new members. right now with about 20 sisters we have no duplicate names though.

we have
2 Andrea's
2 Amber's
2 Anna's
3 Amanda's
3 Gretchen/Greta
5 Kim's
2 Amy's
2 Laura's


Most unusual: Ezinne

When I was chapter advisor a couple years ago, and there was a problem, I could stand in the middle of the Suite and yell, "Heather, Jen, and Amy - NOW!" and most of the sorority would show up.

When I was an active, we once had five Kathy's (all spelled differently), and 8 (yes, eight!) Mary Something's (Merry Lee, Mary Grace, Mary Lynne, Mary Lisa, Mary Pat, Mary Jo, Mary K., and Mary Beth - I had to see if I could remember them all!).

Amy, Stephanie/Stefanie, Michelle/Michele, and Melissa were very popular names.

In any given year, it was fairly common to have at least 3 duplicate names (first AND last) on the PNM list (out of approx. 1200). I won't post any names here for privacy reasons, but it was a NIGHTMARE when we were doing the lists. Sure, they had PNM numbers assigned to them, but it was still hard to keep them apart.

(Also, this is a lesson for the PNM's out there...you could be cut for something as silly as having the same name as someone.)

Yeah--PNMs, if you discover that you have the same name as another PNM, please do something to make yourself stand out. When I was asst PH advisor, there were 2 girls with the same name. They both went to the same pref party and only one got a bid. The wrong one showed up at Bid Day! We never knew why that happened and *I* had to go retrieve the girl and take her back to the dorm--we let the sorority go get the other one.

There is a happy ending here; that sorority ended up having a vacancy a couple of weeks later and they pledged the second "Jane Doe".

I don't know actual numbers but I was one of many Jennifers. In fact, when I was picking out my forum name for here, I was surprised that it was still available! :)

My advice for those with the same first and last name: Use your middle initial too!

e.g Jane A. Smith and Jane B. Smith