Scott Wilds
While registering at Creative Hotlist, a job site for creatives, I found it curious that the personalized URL I was given included “swild2”. Did I already register? Why did I get a “2”? Being the inquisitive boy that I am, I checked out the purer version of “swild“. Well, it wasn’t me, but it was Scott Wild, or rather, a Scott Wild. I wasn’t too surprised, but then I saw his URL: rswild.com. Weird. It was surprising to find someone who has the same name, works in the same industry, and has a similar URL. I wonder if he tried to get scottwild.com too. Which, by the way, is still owned by someone—another Scott Wild surprise, surprise—and isn’t being used. What a waste of a URL. The only reason I go by S.R. Wild is because srwild.com was the only URL I could get that was close to my name. I never use S. Wild for anything, like signing work, because my sister uses that, so swild.com wasn’t an option.
The other Scott Wild is an advertising writer and creative director in Chicago. He’s worked for some well-known clients and campaigns: Dr. Martens, Juxtapoz, and he wrote a couple of those odd Burger King commercials with the plastic-headed king.
As I was looking at his work, I fantasized (something I do quite often, particularly these days) that maybe he’d contact me and want to start a creative agency with me. We could call it Scott Wild2.
According to HowManyOfMe.com, there are 26 people in the US named Scott Wild. That’s actually less than I expected.
After all this, I was reminded of the scene in American Splendor where Harvey Pekar talks about the other Harvey Pekars:
My name is Harvey Pekar. That’s an unusual name, “Harvey Pekar.”
1960 was the year I got my first apartment and my first phone book. Now imagine my surprise when I looked up my name and saw that in addition to me, another Harvey Pekar was listed. Now, I was listed as “Harvey L. Pekar”—my middle name is Lawrence—and he was listed as “Harvey Pekar.” Therefore his was a was a purer listing.
Then in the ’70s, I noticed that a third Harvey Pekar was listed in the phone book. Now, this filled me with curiosity. How can there be three people with such an unusual name in the world, let alone in one city?
Then, one day, a person I work with expressed her sympathy with me concerning what she thought was the death of my father, and she pointed out an obituary notice in the newspaper for a man named Harvey Pekar. And one of his sons was named Harvey. And these were the other Harvey Pekars. And six months later, Harvey Pekar Jr. died. And although I’ve met neither man, I was filled with sadness: “What were they like?” I thought. It seemed that our lives had been linked in some indefinable way.
But the story does not end there, for two years later another “Harvey Pekar” appeared in the phone book.
Who are these people? Where do they come from? What do they do?
What’s in a name?
Who is “Harvey Pekar?”