The paradox regarding the use of fake names and their widespread availability is that they can offer as much safety as vulnerability to users of the Internet. They offer relative freedom and are an easy way to keep safe from dangers of the online space or prejudices of any sort but at the same time, identities are hidden behind them, these having the possibility not to be pleasant people to get into contact with. Nevertheless, fake names are used for all kinds of different purposes, and we usually are able to recognize them by their commonality or the cultural references they show.
As an extension to fake names, fake email addresses, phone numbers or shipping addresses appeared, having similar characteristics. Those who choose these names usually either don’t want their identity revealed, or use them as a joke for a prank between friends, but they might as well use it against people they want to harm or for activities that they would not give their real name to. Many John Smiths and Don Juans are active online, as well as many cartoon characters come alive in these situations. In this article, we will take a look at these names, and try to answer questions regarding their origins, usage and the ways in which companies can get rid of them for the benefit of their brand and credibility.
Fake Names in the Online Space
Fake names are mostly used for privacy reasons, fraudulent orders, or as a joke, but it is very surprising how many other, not so common and very varied usages they can have. We usually associate fake names with online pranksters or criminals, but they can appear in very official contexts as well, may it be the case of a scientist who wants to avoid prejudices against his new discovery based on past misunderstood projects, or an academic who decides to express their controversial ideas and opinions publicly but cherishes his reputation well enough not to let it be destroyed. Influential people have to pay special attention to their publications and public presence in order not to offend someone, which is usually very likely anyway. Of course they can not only defend themselves, but they can also promote their activity through the use of fake names, just as ex-president Donald Trump is said to have done by creating personas to convey messages that he did not want to sign himself.
The ways in which fake names appear are very various, and the demand for them can be shown by how many fake name generator websites appeared recently for general availability. These sites offer random name combinations from all kinds of different cultures, and they can even assign a face to the invented person with randomized features free to use. One important scenario where fake names can appear is the case of ordering products online. Fake personas order products that they consider unacceptable for their own personality or purchase packages with a fake names on them that are being sent out for the purpose of mocking the receiver. And variations of these kinds of names can be endless, ranging from Mickey Mouse to Pamela Anderson. Fake names are often accompanied by invented place names like ‘Anytown’ and ‘Test Street’ or e-mail addresses and phone numbers that show little effort for disguise but are accepted by sites if containing the right characters. Similar activities are taken into consideration in the bullet points of agreements on websites, and consequences include denial of access to one’s profile or accounts being disabled, like in the case of Facebook regulations.
Fake Name Creation Strategies
Creating fake names is not a complicated task, and the results can be spotted quite easily by the trained eye, especially if the effort taken was one of a low degree. Names created for this purpose mostly come from language conventions, like in the case of John Doe and Jane Doe, idioms, as the usage of Contrary Mary, Karen, and Uncle Sam, or names that are obviously only used as fake ones because they are too common in the language. One of these names in English is John Smith, which has equivalents in other countries as well, for example Mario Rossi in Italian, Ola Nordmann in Norwegian, Giannis Papadopoulos in Greek or Jean Dupont in French. Other fake name creation strategies include using random typing (asdf asdf), the names of famous or fictional characters (James Bond, Barack Obama), or using input that cannot be recognized by computers without cleaning, like adding content to the left and right margins of a name (xxxJohnxxx), stutter typing (Petttterson) and spaced typing (P e t e r M i l l e r).
We can encounter instances of more creative fake names as well, which have the intention to be funny, and are invented on the spot. These usually turn out very obvious as well, since they are based on words that are not necessarily proper names, but they can be combined in a way that their form is similar to a personal name. A few examples for this phenomenon are: Skye Blue, Dee End, Cesar Salad, Ester La Vista and Oscar Nommanee.
Risk Detector Service
Using fake names like the ones mentioned above are usually harmless and don’t cause misunderstandings, since their nature is quite obvious. But in the case of companies for which correct personal information is key, fake names can cause a significant amount of headache, especially when it comes to matters of online shopping. In these cases, shipments made to fake addresses or persons different from the one ordering the products, all constitute losses to companies, both financially and in terms of the trust of their customers.
A very easy solution to such issues is the Risk Detector service from NameAPI which works with names from all over the world and can identify the risk factor of data in personal names, email addresses, phone numbers and place names. The Risk Detector Demo on nameapi.org illustrates how the software works and it is constantly enriched with new terms. In case the order process is aided by the checking of names provided by users, companies can easily avoid orders placed by pranksters, and thus the additional shipping fees included in a joke like this. The demo is able to perform checks for fake names or disguised risks which can easily be identified by humans but not by machines. Examples for such terms are oooAngelaooo, A n g e l a S m i t h, or Smiiiiith.
Hiding behind fake names might be funny or even required sometimes, but facing the consequences of one’s actions is the honest way to choose. It would be better if fake names remained part of jokes between friends, online gaming communities, and Instagram usernames, but apart from serious matters where they are a means of causing other people problems. Unfortunately, this is not possible, since fake names are widely used and have become an almost unnoticed part of our lives, so important is to be able to recognize them and deal with situations related to them accordingly.
