Another coincidence 2sp......my daughter has a not very common forename and our surname isn't too common either so together I didn't expect to find another one.
She moved to Dorset and phoned a letting agency to ask about renting a flat. She had a very confused conversation with the chap about her opinion of the flats she had supposedly seen...there was another girl of the same name looking for a flat in Dorset and had been using the same agency.
Some months later she moved to Somerset...made an appointment at a hairdresser and when she turned up was met with..."You're not (Gness's daughter!)....the same girl with the unusual name had move to Somerset and was now a regular at the hairdresser my daughter chose.
I was told, when I first applied for a passport, that I already had one. Someone with the same name as mine born on the same day had applied for a passport.
It's not a very uncommon surname, but it's not Smith Jones or Brown.
I then had to show that my place of birth was different.
I went on a facebook mission and found loads of people with the same first, middle and last (married) name, none are common names, neither. Half of the people I requested joined my mission, and the trail is still continuing.
I have regularly been told that I have spelt my surname incorrectly and that it's actually Sheppard, even had credit cards issued in the 'proper' spelling.
When I applied for my pension I was told that it was already being claimed by someone living in a place I had never been. My name, my place of birth and my NI number. It took months to sort out.