The Mark Clark Thread

Let me preface this story by saying that I work for an international conglomerate of companies with branches in different lines of business all around the world.

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow who works for the same company as me, but in a different part of the world, received an email that was some sort of response to a business proposal. Unfortunately, although it was intended for "Mark Clark," the Mark Clark that received it was not the intended recipient, but another person with the same first and last name. Mr. Clark looked up all the folks in the corporation named Mark Clark and forwarded the message to all of us, in the hope that the correct Mark Clark would receive it. Turns out there are 7 Mark Clarks that work for my company. I, of course, am one of them. We have a Mark Clark in Germany, in Sweden, in Great Britain and in 3 states of the US.

Since then, we have all been participating in a very entertaining thread all about the adventure of being saddled with a name that rhymes, whether or not we think our parents were influenced by General Mark Clark being in the news or were merely sadistic or on drugs or something.

When I was young, I felt that my name was unique. I never knew another Mark Clark growing up. Now, of course, I realize that it's not that uncommon a name. There are 5 listings for Mark Clark in the Fort Worth phone book. 4 of them are for Mark A. Clark. But, still, I've never before had any interaction with someone with the same name as me. It gives me a curious feeling. I know, intellectually at least, that I have nothing necessarily in common with any of these people that share my name, but I find myself hoping we can keep the thread going.