self-stalking and name narcissism

I occasionally do a google search of my name, email, etc. for the obvious reasons (self-worship of course!) having to do with making sure that my next job application doesn't turn up some hugely embarrassing thing I (of course never) did or said when I was seventeen. After much milling, I'm pleased that the following are the only hits that come up for me that are genuinely related to me:

1. my teacher profile on the Blue Moon's site
2. a testimonial I wrote for Uandme dance
3. a WWU press release naming me Outstanding EAS Graduate of whatever year I graduated
4. My heat listings and winnings for the '07 Seattle Starball
5. A very old listing saying I went to SJC after "graduating" from my "high school"
6. A couple of reviews I did for abstruse and archaic philosophical texts and math books that I wrote on amazon during my philosopher-king days at SJC

There are a bunch of other people who come up who share my name or some part of it. They, for the most part, are dead (I guess I have an old-fashioned name). Although one of them apparently has a thriving photography business and another one makes the nummiest chocolate chip cookies.

Of course my favorite doppleganger does not share my last name, but she does seem to have a huge following in the cosplayer world:

(this is - incidentally - not actually me although I am a fair-princess)

I don't know why I'm always so fascinated with people who share my name or some part of it. Why a name should imply more of a connection or a shared identity than any other similar characteristic (although I'll admit to feeling both threatened and drawn to other women who are over 5'10 on the grounds that they share a feature that is distinctive about me, making us either allies or simply redundant). I guess in a sense, we do suffer or benefit from the reputations of those who share a name or some part of it - in the general scuttlebutt of the world around us, so it makes sense to be fascinated and partially invested in what others with our names are doing.

But, also, names are very personal somehow - a way of putting a shape to our general and rather abstract sense of our own highly convoluted and complex identities.  I mean, it is kind of interesting to see the different ways people relate to their various internet monikers and how various identities of a dissociative state may be so formulated that they acquire different names. I also seem to recall a study that said people were more likely to be attracted to others with similar names to theirs. Maybe I made this up (I swear I didn't), but personal experience is rather persuasive. I know R&R, M&M, A&A... all make great couples.

Apparently, we do at least tend to prefer the letters in our initials - there's even a study showing that people with C's and D's in their names are less averse to receiving these grades in school. Thank goodness my parents had the foresight to name me Adella. If I'd been Dadella, I could be working at a 711 by now! Or... something. Anyhow, sometimes, it's weird being  human. We're odd little creatures.