http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/search/ is one of those way-too-much-fun sites; it takes information from the census bureau. Checking it out, there are 307 men by my husband’s name in the US. When we moved here, there were four in the phone book.

I had someone email me once, wanting to know so she could be enthused with me over my success, whether I was the screenwriter for a Helen Hunt movie which I know nothing about, and so I can’t say whether the name was, indeed, a match. Later, I got congratulations from someone else on getting my article published in a magazine–Vogue Knitting, I think it was? Did that screenwriter take up knitting? I was going, what? I didn’t think–I mean, it’s not like I’m Bob Smith (although my college roommate is married to one.)

So, looking here, it turns out there are nine people in the US named Alison Hyde. If you spell it with two l’s, which I do not, that’s another 17. My little brother’s unique, and my older brother doesn’t exist. There are two people in the whole country with my dad’s name, and I bet I can guess who one of them is.