My main email address is <myreallastname>@gmail.com. My surname is not a very common one, yet I still experience many of the side effects described here. I've had this account since the first day Gmail was available to the public, April 1st 2004—I was invited by a friend who worked for Google at the time.

Back then, I never considered this address an "OG" address, but then around 2012 I noticed something funny. I volunteered to do some charity work and everyone was asked to sign in to a log book and write down their email address with a pen. Several people who worked for this charity said to me "How did you get that email address?" and seemed to think it was unusual that I had a Gmail address that was simply my last name. When I asked them what their email address was, they'd say something like "fluffybunny32428@hotmail.com" or something like that. Hard to believe people use those kinds of addresses for official business and applying for jobs, but they do.

My name is also very English. So when I get missent email, almost everybody using my address is from the UK, Canada, Australia, or NZ.