Are you related to...?

Yesterday one of my students asked me if I were related to John Nash, the guy from A Beautiful Mind. I guess not an unnatural thing to ask your math prof named Nash. Since I was a kid I've been asked if I were related to Ogden Nash, and Graham Nash.

Not quite the same thing but teachers would so often say to me, "Did you know there was a car called The Nash Rambler?" If someone said that to me now I'd say; "Did you know there was a band called "The Nash Ramblers?" They weren't as good as Spy Boy.

Who do people ask if you are related to. Are there any other comments about your name you hear a lot?

There's a Dr.Chaiken in my area, so every time i go to the doctor's, i get asked

No one every really asks seriously whether I'm related to anyone. But fairly often people accidentally call me Allison because of Allison Krauss.

The only ones I ever get asked if I'm related to are my dad and my uncle... and I get that CONSTANTLY.

(and, as it turns out, we are related)

I have a pretty uncommon last name, tho.

perry farrell. all the time. especially since our first names even rhyme. and. um. NO.

i've also been asked about colin, which is another no.

Who is Perry Farrell?

I'd have expected you to be asked about Terry Farrell -- "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's" Jadzia Dax.

-- Pauley

Gella Solomon.

Solomon like the king.

Not related to Lawrence.

Ringo and Ken mostly.

What's funny is that because my last name is much more common than my first name, I'm more likely to be related to any given Talcott than I am another Starr.

Starr wasn't even Ringo's real last name. It was Starkey.

They really should ask you if you are related to Pete Best.

I tend to refer to everyone famous with my name as Uncle or Aunt. None of them are related. Supposedly I'm related to Al Hirschfeld on my mother's side. Big woop.

I know that ;-)

The singer from Jane's Addiction!

Well, no one ever asked but there is a famous Stoller, of the Lieber & Stoller variety.

I did one recieve a letter from a Stoller (i think his name was Paul?) who lives in Poland who was tracking down his extended family on the internet. While the Franks and the Mlynareks in my family are from Poland, the Stollers are from Latvia, and they're Jewish, and this guy was not :) so, no relation.

and later porno for pyros.

also, wasn't lollapalooza his brainchild?

i would ask if you were related to peter.

At least it's better than Brian. :)

i believe it was!

you know, as soon as i posted that i thought "i should have put his other band too" and then i had�a brainfart where i couldnt think of the name, yet immediately jumped to earworming myself with o/~ we'd make great pets, we'd make great pets!"

..which some of my friends used to filk to say o/~ we're in dan's pants, we're in dan's pants! we're in dan's paaaaaaaaaants! o/~

I knew that you knew. I was just pointing out why the question was silly.

I never knew your last name or I'd have asked if you were related to Jerry Stoller. Leiber and Stoller Rocked. They wree really cool guys too.

That is cool. How closely are you related? Ever meet him? Ever meet Nina?

Hirschfeld was a cartoonist who worked the name of his daughter Nina into his drawings. He'd mark the number of times it appeared in the corner. Finding the Ninas was always a fun puzzle

woahwaitwoah.. Jerry Stoller is my father.

unless the stoller from leiber & stoller is Jerry too?

eta: no, it's Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. were you confused, or do you know my father for some bizarre reason??

Several years ago, I was out at a bar with Kim, my then-fiancee (now ex-wife) and her mother. We were playing pool, and someone came up to me and asked if I was Brian K's brother. Kim then said, "No, but I'm his sister..."

We were pretty creeped out after that.

I am not the heir to the Schick Razor fortune.

I am not a relative of the doctor who invented the Schick Test (evaluates susceptibility to diphtheria).

I do not know the Scarsdale Diet Doctor.

I *am* related to Jason Alexander by marriage - he's my mother's sister's husband's first-cousin's daughter's husband.

I *am not* related to William Shattner - but his uncle Max was briefly married to my Grandmother before I was born.

And Mike Gordon is my brother-out-law. He and my sister are domestic partners. At least, she's covered by his health insurance.

Who's Brian K?

No one famous. My ex-wife's brother. The guy was thinking I looked like her brother. It was weird.

I was being dyslexic sort of. I knew they were Jerry and Mike and I knew which was which but I wrote the wrong one. It really isn't easy not having a brain :-)

Almost Jerry Stiller. maybe you have a sekrit brother Ben Stoller. :)

I am not the heir to the Schick Razor fortune.

Damn, does that mean I'm never going to get free razors from you? I wasted all that time being your friend?

I do not know the Scarsdale Diet Doctor.

My aunt knew him. She knew everybody. She knew Ethyl Merman when she was a kid and she dated Zeppo and Harpo Marx.

Mike has health insurance that isn't private?

I'm impressed. Health insurance is a big problem for musicians.

Who has a sekrit cousin named Ben Stiller.

Never met him, and I think we're distant cousins, but I've never gotten a clear answer on how we're related.

Mike has health insurance that isn't private?
- bear in mind that the Phish organization used to have a lot of employees - from technicians and archivists and merch and designers and ticket sales and office help and oh yeah the band too. There's still an office, though with significantly fewer staff members. She's very nice.

no, i have a COUSIN Ben Stoller. Ben and his brother Ryan are the last of the male Stollers, the only hope to carry on the name in our family :P

Ben is about to have his bar mitzvah in jersusalem - apparantly, you can watch it on the web.

what's funny about that is that i knew a guy in high school named Mike Leiber :D

My sister and her husband both took the hyphenate so when/if they have kids they'll still have Krause as part of their name.

Wait... YOU'RE related to Gella Solomon? I know her! :)

Nobody every asks me if I'm related to anybody. Mostly this is because they've never seen my last name before in their lives.

I once did, however, videotape a deposition in Boston where one of the attorney's was named LoCicero. This only came out as we were stating our names for the record, and it shocked both of us.

I have been contacted online by a few LoCiceros over the years who were wondering if I was related to them. So far the answer to that seems to be no.

there is one libicki who comes up in google searches before me. he is a big name... if you are a defense-tech insider in washington, dc.

no one has ever asked me if i'm related to him, though he is, in fact, my uncle. i've never heard of a libicki who isn't related to me.

I'll ask my friend who is a defense consultant in DC if she knows him.

Well, considering the fact that I have two celebrity last names (Eggert-Crowe), I dont' get asked very often. But I do get Russell or Sheryl (even though she spells it differently)

I *am* related to Jason Alexander by marriage - he's my mother's sister's husband's first-cousin's daughter's husband.

Oh, I think I beat you. I'm related to Paul Shaffer, 'cause he's my dad's sister's husband's sister's husband. :oD

(Otherwise known as my uncle's brother-in-law. But it was more fun to say it the other way.)

I danced with him at my aunt's wedding!

no one ever asks if you're related to cameron? that would be my question.

man, i'm jealous. i'm not covered by neal's health insurance and he works *in* benefits. phish has a better health plan than big scary company.

My brother's name is Mike Meyers so ya, i hear all the obvious stuff.

another neat thing to discuss is who people tell you you look like. i often get told i look like Felicity (Kerri Russell), Darlene from Roseanne (Sara Gilbert), and most recently, Drea De Matteo (from the sitcom Joey). I'm happy, since all are gorgeous ;)

people tell my bf that he looks like singer Mark McGrath. that rules, since Mark McGrath is the hottest thing on two legs :D

Keri Russell?� not really.
Sara Gilbert?� not since you've lost weight... but back in grade 12, definitely.
Drea de Matteo?� it's mostly the hair, but I can kinda see it.

heh, its mostly just the hair for all three of them :) when you have really curly hair people just associate you with other curly-headed people.� Lately Ive been getting Drea De Matteo a few times, which is fine by me since shes super hot :D

Maybe a couple people do.

In all honesty, I could be. My great-grandfather Arnold Crowe just disappeared after my grandfather was born and nobody really knows where he went. So I could have people I'm related to that I am not aware of.