How many people Google themselves? If you are honest you have already shaken your head and said yes or perhaps you proudly said hell yeah and for others you may have even justified self-searching by claiming the need to make sure you’re not being ‘violated’ (identity) in any way. I fall into the slightly apologetic crowd; it seems very narcissistic to search oneself online but for some reason it is awesome to see yourself in print. That being said, does anyone remember that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, the last in season 7 where L.D. and Seinfeld went on a total bender over that phrase? Anyway, I digress, that being said, I just Googled myself as I do every now and again; this time I jumped into the fray because a co-worker told me how she had Googled my name to look up an article and lo and behold, my name came up in-between some legit stuff and some appalling stuff. For the purposes of those who are highly litigious, I will not share the middle name of this other Cija Jefferson (I still don’t believe it), but suffice it to say, any employer who is looking me up could easily think I have a criminal past. Let’s be honest, unless you work for the government in a position that requires security clearance, the folks in HR aren’t gonna dig that deep to ensure they have the right individual unless you have a super common name like a John Smith, but Cija Jefferson, both my first and last name…are you freaking kidding me? I have gone my entire life watching teachers pause and their lips tremble as they try to sound out my name. In fact growing up in a not-so diverse environment my name felt like an eyesore and now with the advent and sheer hysteria that is the internet, I’m finding out that my name is no longer extremely unique. I was found on Facebook by a woman, also named Cija but not the afore-mentioned criminal background Cija, who started a FB page so the Cija’s of the world could unite, turns out there are quite a few of us. Apparently most of us had mothers into science fiction who had read the story of Princess Cija in a series written by Jane Gaskell. The author clarified her pronunciation of the name in the foreword of the book “The City”, saying it was slightly Celtic. You know I wondered how my Mom managed to get the pronunciation Kia from Cija. Let’s get back to the real reason I started this though, to see how many other folks Google themselves; based off my story, it may be useful to check your internet self out and see who else might be out there with your name giving pause to potential employers, boyfriend or girlfriends (I’m definitely an internet info searcher when it comes to relationships)… you might just be surprised by what you see.
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