Man named Taylor Swift reveals advantages and frustrations of having the same name as the singer

Taylor J Swift, director of Government Capacity at the PopVox Foundation, spoke about his experience sharing a name with one of today’s best-known singers. “As someone who works in the congressional defense space, where I help advocate for things like better wages, benefit payments and technology, having a name like mine helps because people generally remember,” he confessed in an interview with Business Insider (via People).

“When people remember my name, they also remember the ball that I’m trying to push forward, and that’s what matters,” he continued, remembering that he found out about the singer when he was around 15 years old. “At first, I thought, ‘No problem, she’s a singer with one or two hits, that’s not going to impact me’. But I was wrong. As time went on, I found it frustrating.”

I was just a kid trying to live my life, and now I was sharing a name with a great singer. Plus, I had just moved back to Ohio to live with my dad, so I was the new kid at school, called Taylor Swift. To make matters worse, I had a haircut Justin bieberwore glasses and was on the debate team — it wasn’t a great time.

Swift he considered asking other people to call him TJ, an abbreviation of his first and second names, but came to believe that “there was a reason” for him to have been named after the hit song “Anti-Hero”. However, he needs to be careful not to be confused: “When I do interviews with the press, I ask them to mention me as Taylor J Swift“.

“I also include the ‘J’ on my business card and when I’m applying for a job,” he explained. Precautions are not always enough to avoid confusion: “Last week, I made a dinner reservation for two under the name of Taylor Swift. I could see the receptionist was a little disappointed when I showed up.”

“They joked about how I wasn’t the real deal Taylor Swiftso I just laughed and said, ‘I hear that all the time, but I just shake it off“, he joked. “When I talk to people, or when I’m presenting something to a member of Congress, or I have a meeting, they see that I’m serious about the work we’re doing.”

Swift He also stated that there are bigger problems in the world: “Now I think that if my name is the biggest problem I have in my life, I’m fine.”