What happens when a man named Jim Socks tries to cheer up a girl named Beyoncé

Finding out your parents aren’t perfect is one of life’s cruelest moments. For some unlucky people, this brutal realization comes early in life — the moment they find out their parents have named them after famous celebrities or television show characters. Or, perhaps even worse, these poor children learn their parents turned their names into a joke.

Case in point: a New Yorker named Beyoncé. Humans of New York, the highly fascinating art/journalism/social science project by Brandon Stanton, interviewed a woman named Beyoncé who is not Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

“When the teacher started calling attendance, I got really nervous, because every time people learn my name is Beyoncé, somebody starts singing ‘Single Ladies,’” Beyoncé said. “And some did, of course.”

That has to be, at the very least, mildly irritating. Imagine having an overeager barista yell out “Beyoncé” at your local coffee shop, or waiting as the smug clerk at the DMV double-checks “Beyoncé” on your forms, or waiting for a hostess to tell a crowded bar that the table for “Beyoncé” is ready.

But the true gem of Beyoncé‘s story is the response it elicited. There are apparently lots of people out there with unfortunate names. And they wanted to cheer Beyoncé up.

Take it from Tanya Boob and Annikin Hundvik:

Katie Holmes, Serena Williams, Rachel Green, and Bridgett Jones had similar stories to share:

And there is also the sad tale of Mr. Jim Socks:

Granted, you could name yourself anything on Facebook, so we’re taking these people at their words on what they’re named. But many of these names (Rachel Green and Bridgett Jones, for instance) are actually pretty common.

The lesson is clear: parents will never stop giving their children unfortunate names. And sometimes, those children will brighten our lives with stories of living with these unfortunate names.