By JANAE HACKWORT
With so many students attending BYU, looking for someone in the student directory can be challenging when there is more than one person with the same name.
Jennifer Johnson, an elementary education major from Sunnyside, Wash., is one of 14 listed in the directory. She receives calls for other Jennifers often.
'It happens all the time. They usually say this is so-and-so from your class,' she said.
Sometimes the caller has the right Jennifer; many times they don't.
In Fall Semester 1995, BYU had 30,465 day students including both graduate and undergraduate students enrolled. There were also 1,078 students enrolled in evening classes.
Finding duplicate names with so many students enrolled is inevitable. Six-hundred and thirty-four students share their name with one other person according to the 1995-96 BYU student directory.
Calling the wrong person on the phone can happen. It becomes even more difficult to determine the right person when they are both from the same home state.
'People call for me a lot. We have to go through the questions to figure out if I'm the right person,' said Emily Jones (one of two), a speech language pathology major from Moraga, Calif.
''Are you Emily Jones?' 'Yes.' 'Are you from California?' 'Yes.' 'Don't you remember me?' 'No.''
The only way to distinguish which is the right Emily Jones is by where they live in Provo.
Sharing the same name with another person can also lead to some interesting experiences.
'I almost had an interview with the Blue and White Sports Network because they thought I was on the tennis team,' said Craig Manning, a junior from Rupert, Idaho, majoring in zoology.
Another experience that happened to Manning occurred while he was on his mission. He received mail that had been forwarded to him that should have gone to the other Craig Manning. This happened nine months into his mission.
To avoid confusion, Manning now tells people to ask for the Craig Manning from Idaho when they try to reach him.
Laurel Starkweather (one of two) has also experienced similar confusion.
'We both went to study abroad the same semester. She went to Jerusalem and I went to Chile. One of my professors wanted to call me, but he called the wrong Laurel. They were talking about study abroad for awhile until they realized she was the wrong Laurel,' said Starkweather, a family science major from Grand Junction, Colo.
BYU Telephone Services offers some advice to students trying to reach the right person.
'Usually the operators will ask if the caller knows a middle name or initial, where they live, or where the person is from,' said Christine Oakes of Telephone Services. 'If they have that information, it narrows down the field.'
There are also other ways to find the right person in the directory. The operators can ask if the caller knows the name of a roommate.
'Sometimes a roommate's name will be more unusual than the person they are trying to call.