Issue Date: May 18, 2008

Thy name is famed

When regular folks have famous names, memorable moments are sure to follow.

By Tim Wendel

What's in a name? If you're Donald Trump, Tom Cruise or Britney Spears, it means never waiting for a restaurant table or leaving a glitzy event without a swag bag in hand. But if you aren't famous and simply share the same name as a high-profile celeb, you won't get the same A-list treatment -- you'll just have plenty of good stories to tell. USA WEEKEND Magazine recently spoke with "normal" folks who have bold-face names to find out what it's like to deal with this quirk of fate.

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

Bio details: Cruise, 43, of Bettendorf, Iowa, is a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch.
This Tom Cruise, unlike our other famously named folks, actually met his celebrity counterpart. Because of his name, he was invited to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on the same day that Cruise the actor was booked as a guest. During the commercial breaks, the two Cruises chatted and had their pictures taken together.

"It was strictly chitchat, but I was struck by what a nice and easy-going guy he seemed to be," Cruise says. "He really won me over." Cruise actually met his famous namesake.
Bio details: University of Colorado basketball players Houston and Spears, both 19, are roommates.
Going through airport security, Houston and Spears stop lines cold (even if the spelling of Spears' first name is slightly off). "When we show our IDs, no one believes it," Houston says. Spears thinks the names are no big deal. But Houston, who admires her namesake, has sung the national anthem at a game. "I hope I did it half as well as Whitney," she says.

Tony Soprano

Tony Soprano

Bio details: Soprano, 50, of Philadelphia, runs a messenger service.
The best moment came when this Tony Soprano was waiting to fly standby out of Dallas. When his name was announced for the flight, several hundred people in the concourse rose and applauded. After Soprano got on the plane, the flight attendant told those on board, "Make sure you buckle up because we have Tony Soprano with us today." And, yes, he has suffered his share of crank phone calls.

George Bush
Bio details: Bush, 56, of Kohala, Hawaii, is the owner of an antique restoration business.
This Bush is a Democrat. And after he nearly lost a client because of the name, he added his middle initial -- which is a "C," not a "W" -- on his delivery van. Then he changed his company's name from George Bush Restorations to Paragon Restorations. He also felt that it may be best for his wife to keep her maiden name.

Donald Trump
Bio details: Trump, 72, of Coopersburg, Pa., is a loan-servicing manager.
Trump works in finance, just like the famous one does. But this Trump's office is in Allentown, Pa., not New York. And his business is lending, not real-estate development. And he doesn't get any perks either.

"If I make dinner reservations with my name, people think it's a joke," Trump says. "You roll with it. Long ago, I decided the world was big enough for both of us."

Caren Oppenheim contributed to this report.