We were talking about googling someone and Andrew said he is the first Gelman if googled.
I was surprised,
"Gelman, just Gelman?"
"Yes, and I need to work on the Andrew part".
Out of pure curiosity, we tried my name. Tian, first. I was not hopeful as Tian has the same sound of "sky" in Chinese. And then it comes as the second! Right after wikipedia's entry of "Tian". Popularity is a double-blade sword. You will have a wikipedia page for your name if it is popular enough and then your own website will be ranked second to the wikipedia page.
Andrew noticed that Google automatically detected my location and then give my website an edge. We then tried Chicago. Obviously no Tian in Chicago can out beat me!
What about Zheng? I became even less hopeful. This is the 27th most popular last name out of all the Chinese in the world after all. I am the eighth or something this time. Andrew was impressed, "still on the first page! You should put this on your CV." Well, I think I will just blog about it!
