http://www.sadanduseless.com/2016/09/matrix/
scroll.
I knew I shouldn't go out in tiger stripes on public transit. My cover is blown
:)
You ever notice that kids names come in waves? Parents try to pick names that they think are uncommon but then the kids end up all having the same names in school. This reminds me of the arguments against us actually having free will. I guess you could argue that the matrix is real, it just isn't super-natural.
My sister had such a common name that there were often *three* in a class of 25 (so perhaps 25% of the girls). She swore it wouldn't happen to her son. Pre-internet, she got her hands on the most recent top-10 lists and made sure she didn't pick a name from that list. It was all that's available.
If you look at data now, you can see his name is #11 for the year he was born and remained in the top 10 (going as low as #5) for 21 of the next 22 years.
In my whole life growing up in VT where Ethan Allen is a major hero, I never met an Ethan. When I've been teaching skiing recently, it's common to have half the boys named either Ethan or Noah. Meanwhile, John hasn't cracked the top 10 since. 1991.
Surprisingly, there weren't that many 'Bobs' when I was in school, even through college. But if you get in a broader age range, the place is full of them.