"Every time I have to use my Student ID or credit card, or have a résumé or something, people go, 'Oh, that's your name?'" Fox said. "People make references to 'Back to the Future,' stuff like that."

Fox says that he takes comments and jokes about his name in stride.

"I've gotten it so much that it doesn't even faze me anymore," he said.

Unlike Fox, Troy sophomore David Cook has only been dealing with having a name associated with a famous person for about a year, since the "American Idol" contestant won the reality television competition.

"I don't really follow the show ...I'll admit, I watched the last episode to see what happened," said Cook, who majors in music performance and music education. "I can't stand the show otherwise."

Cook said his name will only get recognized occasionally, when giving a cashier a credit card or a similar situation. He more commonly goes by Dave, or "D-Man" when with friends.

"It just kind of happened," Cook said of the nickname.

Cook describes his life as "sleeping, blogging, studying music and practicing music," and although not a regular viewer of the show, he did have a strong opinion of his namesake's biggest 'Idol' competitor, David Archuleta.

"I thought (David) Archuleta sounded like a girl," Cook said. "He was just a stupid teenager."

Although many students with recognizable names try to distance themselves from their namesakes, Harper Woods senior Samantha Jones embraced the name she shares with Kim Cattrall's character on "Sex and the City."

"I didn't watch it when it was on the air, because I was younger and my mom didn't let me watch it," said Jones, who has since watched much of the show and owns a season of it on DVD.

Jones said frustration comes when her name is recognized and people expect her to know an expansive amount about the television show. Most of the time, however, Jones enjoys the recognition, which she said mostly comes from girls who watch the show.

Jones recalled working at a movie theater when she was 16, a woman came in to buy popcorn to watch during the series finale of "Sex and the City," and when Jones mentioned her name, the woman got excited and asked for her autograph.

"She thought I was (the character), pretty much," Jones said. "She was like a fan of me!"

Excitable passersby are less common for Howell junior Matthew Perry, who said he is only occasionally pointed out as sharing a name with the actor of "Friends" and "The Whole Nine Yards" fame.

"I don't get it that often, but occasionally a commercial will come on and my friends will laugh," said Perry, who goes by Matt. "Usually if I buy alcohol, whoever's behind the counter will chuckle about it. Usually my professors will get a chuckle the first few days of classes."

A unintentional similarity between himself and the "Friends" character the other Perry played inspired jokes from his friends earlier this year.

"About two months ago, I brought my foosball table from home and set up my foosball table, and people started walking in like, 'Hey, you're just like Chandler!'"

For Waterford senior James Brown, growing up sharing a name with the Godfather of Soul helped him develop humility and a sense of humor.

"You learn to live with the humor and accept the fact that your name is something ridiculous," Brown said. "I grew up in Flint, originally, so it started off with the dentist's office and stuff, and they'd call my name and half the people would look around and say 'that kid's white!'"

Brown has embraced his name, and so have his friends.

"My friends always call me James Brown, it's never just James."

Brown said that although he rarely gets irritated, sometimes jokes about his name can wear thin.

"If somebody makes a really big deal about it, then I'm just like, 'Okay. I've already heard that one, come on,'" Brown said. "Sometimes I'll make the joke before they do, because if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?"

features@cm-life.com