A Note to “Bob” at “Bob.com”

Someone named “Bob” (curiously with an email address of bob@bob.com, which of course bounced as undeliverable) just sent me this from the blog contact form:

FYI your last post of sex offenders……search your name in public data base and your name comes up with numberous criminal records under Jay Thompson

JAY ELLIOTT THOMPSON
M-0751-CR-2007042936

JAY GRANT THOMPSON
S-0700-CR-1996001182

JAY J THOMPSON
M-1041-CR-86036639

JAY JEFF THOMPSON
M-1041-CR-93044552

You need to clean up your act. (my emphasis)

“Bob” -

Let’s be real. How many “Jay Thompson’s” do you think exist out there? I don’t know the exact number, but it’s a whole lot. “Jay” is a pretty common name, and “Thompson” is a very common surname. For the record, my legal first name is James, which makes it even more common.

How common? Well, suffice it to say that there is a James/Jay Thompson on the Federal terrorist watch list. Trust me, I deal with it every time I fly. Yet they still let me on planes.

There are enough bankrupt Jay / James Thompson’s out there to make life difficult every time I apply for a mortgage or credit card.

According to this source, Thompson is the 17^th most common surname in the US, and James is the most common male name. According to this site, around 672,500 people in the US have a last name of Thompson. Among first names only, 144,550 have the first name Jay and  4,064,550 have the first name James. Now I don’t know how many are named James or Jay Thompson, but I feel pretty safe saying it is “a big ol’ pile”.

I suspect there are tens of thousands of people named Jay / James Thompson out there. (Incidentally, none of those you listed are me. Not even close). And yes, some of those Jay Thompson’s are not good folk.

I don’t know whether to laugh or be afraid that you took the time to do a public record search on my name. If you are so inclined, please repeat the search using the name James Graham Thompson, Jr. While I can’t promise you that nothing will come up, I can assure you that this James Graham Thompson, Jr won’t.

I’ve been fingerprinted multiple times (not for those reasons people! For employment and licensing purposes – real estate sales, broker and substitute teacher), and passed numerous employment background checks. If any client is concerned that I might be some felon, terrorist or sex offender, I’ll be happy to provide evidence otherwise.

So, Bob, I really don’t feel compelled — in the least — to “clean up my act”.

But thanks for caring.

PS: I’m not complaining about my common name. It’s my Dad’s name, and my son’s name, and it means a lot to me to be named after my Dad and have my son named for both of us.

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