I came across this kooky little opinion piece from a newspaper the other day- can't recall which one- in which the writer had, in a moment of boredom, decided to Google his own first name, and see who was the most famous person out there with the same name.
Which is exactly the sort of thing I'll do when I'm bored, so I promptly whipped open Google and typed in Claire (vaguely dreaming about the day when number one place will go to *me*, because I'm the most famous author ever- LOL).
Well, Claire's Accessories get the first two spots, which is cheating, really. Third place goes to a waxing and hairdressing salon- also not a person. The fourth spot gets closer to a real person, but not quite- it's a character- Claire the cheerleader from Heroes. The first real person comes in at number 6, with Australian percussionist Claire Edwardes- erm, who I've never heard of, not being a big listener of classical music.
So, there you go. The first person whose name I actually recognise rolls in on page 2 with Claire Danes. Fascinating. Just by the bye this is Australian Google, if you repeat the experiment and get all different answers!
So, who's the most famous person with your name? I know at least one reader of this blog who comes very close indeed to the top of her search (g). Anyone else make it onto the first page? Or are you swamped with starlets?
Excerpt from Between the Lines
A memory wavered into his mind, shimmery as heat rising off the road in summer.
He was six years old, and he’d been in Stonehaven no more than a week. He was hollow and lonely, confused. He missed the bustle of Melbourne. He missed the other kids on his street, the whole gang of them and their scampy games. He was stuck out in the bush, all of a sudden, with nobody but Lionel for company. Lionel had spent the first day ignoring him completely, and the last few beating the stuffing out of him whenever he got the chance. So that day, he’d wandered out to the back garden, if it could even be called that- just a scrubbed, flat expanse of hot red dirt with a veil of tangled trees and shrubs behind it.
The bush.
On impulse, he’d taken a couple of steps toward it, bare feet burning on the hot ground. The air was filled with the lemony scent of eucalyptus and the fresh tang of the distant sea. He'd filled his lungs and the two steps had turned into six, then ten, then before he knew it he was running headlong toward the wall of whispering green and brown, pushing all his mother’s warnings about snakes and savages from his head. He barrelled between the first spicy-scented leaves and, to his surprise, popped out on a sort of beaten down track, hidden from view of the house. After a moment’s pause to wonder how many strokes of the belt he’d get for this, he set off down the track toward the most interesting noise he’d heard so far- the babbling giggle of flowing water, and laced in with it, the high, clear notes of a girl’s voice, singing.
He stepped off the track with his heart hammering in his chest, suddenly terrified as he caught side of the wide river bank and the rolling mass of glassy green water.
She was standing there, all right- a girl not much taller than him, skinny as a rake, skin the golden brown of tree bark lit by sun. A cascade of golden curls rolled over her shoulders to skim at her waist, tendrils flicking out here and there as she drew back her arm and lobbed a big rock into the water.
He watched it go, traced the arc with his eyes until it hit the water with a loud splash and was swallowed. She was singing, still, her voice high and clear. She was wearing a white dress that finished at her knees and puffed into short sleeves at her shoulders. He looked down at himself, his grey shorts and jumper coated in jam, dirt and everything else he’d been busy with that morning. He stared at her back with suspicion. She was pristine. The only dirty bit of her was her feet, bare as his.
If it hadn’t been for those feet, he might have thought she was an angel. Or a ghost.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
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5 comments:
I plead the fifth. ;)
Well, for your name on US Google, I get Claire's accessories, Claire Bennett (from Heroes - awesome show!), and various other TV characters (from Lost, Six Feet Under, etc. Some writeres and finally Claire Danes.
Wow, Precie nails hers. Loved the sonnet, BTW. *g*
As for me...keep in mind I have one of the most popular names this century, and it was the #1 girls name from the 70's through the 80's, at least here in the US. So...
I get Jenny Craig, the "867-5309" song, and a bunch of random webpages for Jennys...first "famous" Jenny is Jenny McCarthy. If I run "Jennifer" I get Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Anniston, down to Jennifer Love Hewitt and hey! - an author, Jennifer Crusie.
See why I'm considering a pseudonym? *g*
With google.de I get the same results as Jenny for "Claire"
"Nina" is a very popular name in Germany and even my full name brings up all kinds of people (though I'm the 6th entry).
So, only with "Nina" I get the Wikipedia entry first. Second is the Wiki entry for a famous German singer/actress, Nina Hagen. Third is the hompeage of an organisation for sexually abused children.
And then various (some more, some less famous) other Ninas, with the occasional Nina Hagen site in between.
Hi Claire,
You've been tagged.
http://carolaspradling.blogspot.com/
I with Jenny (the other Jenny). I get Jenny Craig and that ANNOYING Jenny, Jenny song! And if I use my full name, I get Toby McGuire's wife, and the Jenny Meyer Literary Agency (think she'd pick up my book, just for the same-name factor?)
BTW - I'm tagging you for a meme. Check it out here: http://thewritersroad.blogspot.com/
Come play with us!
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