As a technical writer who often creates her own mock data in 4 different languages for realistic screenshots and sample reports, I find the Fake Name Generator to be an invaluable resource. In addition to fake names, it fabricates addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, phone number, social security numbers, and credit cards numbers. For instance, “Chad D. Willson, 4167 Hurry Street, Keezletown, VA 22832, 540-269-4158, Birthday: May 1, 1949, MasterCard: 5519 4866 4327 8702 Expires: 11/2010, SSN: 224-34-8297.” I mean, that stuff is gold. Pure bogus gold!
“Fake” is somewhat of a misnomer, though. It’s more random than fake because all of the data is pulled ad-hoc from a database, and nothing precludes it from being coincidentally real. But I’ll bypass this technicality, because the Fake Name Generator saves me from having to recycle jumbled versions of the names of my family and friends — not to mention their credit card numbers –, and from having to research plausible zip codes for particular states, and from having to remember the format of German and French phone numbers. All of these random names do sound really fake: Joan J. Perry, Lance J. Yerkes, Ronald E. Rosenbalm, Tammy R. Baxter, Paulette J. Scott, Douglas C. Schrom, Eugene F. Dolphin, Jimmie K. Yarbro, Dorcas K. Vanwinkle. (That last one is my favorite. I wonder what the “K” stands for.)
The other day I met someone and we were going through typical introductory chitchat. “What do you do?” I asked. She has an administrative job at a biotech company. “What about you?” she asked. I am a technical writer for several software companies.
“Wow, that sounds exciting!” she said, her eyes widening in a way that conveyed genuine excitement. Well, no, not really exciting. I spend a lot of time re-writing the same things over and over again. It can get tedious. “You know what tedious is?” she says, leaning close to me as if to impart a great secret. “Making copies. Binding reports. Answering the phone. Taking inventory on coffee pods.”
I laugh because she gives an exaggerated grimace of irritation. I am thinking about the Fake Name Generator, which is one of the more exciting aspects of my job. And I guess it does beat taking inventory on coffee pods.
