Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who has the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: Googleganger, a play on the word doppelganger, from German words that literally mean “double goer.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Googleganger”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. I’m seeing more and more people use the word Googleganger. You know this term, right? It’s like adapted from doppelganger in German, which means double-goer, like somebody’s double. But a Googleganger is a person with the same name as oneself whose online references are mixed among one’s own search results. Grant, I get Google alerts for you, and I see that you have at least one Googleganger.
Oh, a whole bunch. I think I first encountered this word in 2007, by the way. I get Google gingers from Australia and New Zealand and a kid playing soccer in Alabama. There’s a judge in California. And there was one who died in Texas, actually, with my name.
Oh, gee.
Poor guy.
Wow. Well, there’s another Martha Barnette without the E on the end in Florida. I almost met her because we were at the Word of South Festival there at the same time, but we just missed each other. But there’s also, with the E, with the E on the end of Barnette, there’s the Martha Barnette Golf Classic in South Carolina.
How about that?
I did meet one of the Grant Barrett Google Gangers when we did our show in Dallas a few years ago. He is a great guy, stagehand.
Well, of course he is.
It was a stagehand at the theater in Texas, and I have a photo with him.
Yeah.
Two Grant Barretts on stage together.
That’s right.
It was fantastic.
How about that?
What could be better?
Grant and Martha on stage together.
It was like two Time Lords meeting.
It was kind of wonderful.
I looked for the blue box.
Why do I think that we probably are going to hear some other Google Ganger stories?
I would love to hear some more.
Oh, yeah.
Well, there’s a couple of famous ones of the guy who made the film with all the people with his name. There’s a couple of festivals that have happened with people who all have the same common name.
Oh, that would be cool.
The thing that I think I’ve mentioned this before. The thing that I want to do is that there’s a county in Minnesota. The county is Grant, and the county seat is Barrett.
Oh, my gosh.
And I want to go there.
Oh, my gosh.
I want all the Grant Barrett’s in the world to go there.
That would be delightful.
We’d love to hear your Google Ganger stories. Call us, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
