The Art Of The MonoGoogle

Nick Denton reports the interesting fact that Ken Layne is the world's most popular Ken, while he is only the sixth most-popular Nick. (Results calculated by doing a single-word Google search on "Ken" and "Nick".) In a later post, he uses the high Google ranking of bloggers' names as an argument for the likely efficacy of Google-bombing.

I had never thought of searching single words this way, at least not common words like "Ken" and "Nick". (Worlds like "QuasiPundit" and "PossumBlog" are another story.) It turns out to be a lot of fun, though 'monogoogling' (like 'googlewhacking') does sound like a euphemism for self-abuse. Did you know:

• That Andrew Sullivan is number one among Andrews and Sullivans? Take that, Prince Andrew and Sir Arthur Sullivan! (Gilbert and Sullivan sites take first and second among the Gilberts, while Gilbert and George don't even make the top ten. I find that comforting.)
• That Mickey Kaus is first among Kauses (no surprise there) and among Mickeys, beating out Mickey Mouse (6) and Mickey Mantle (7, 8, and 10)?
• That Sgt. Stryker is second among "Sgt."s (behind "Sgt. Mom's" and just ahead of "SGT, Inc." -- great acronym, guys), and second among Strykers?
• That Tim Blair is third among Tims and Blairs? Particularly impressive when working with two such common names.
• That the Instapundit is first among Reynoldses, but only fifth among Glenns? (I wouldn't have thought there were so many Glenns in the world.)
• That Michael Kelly is the tenth most popular Michael (and third Kelly)? Michael Medved is way down at number sixteen. Michael Jordan's official website comes in second, Michael Jackson's only eighth (and falling, I would guess), three slots behind the other Michael Jackson, the one they know as Beer Hunter. Michael Moore (no link for him) is the first Michael and the second Moore.

Finally, if you're wondering, Dr. Weevil's weblog (no link, you're already there) is only seventeenth (the archives) and thirty-fourth (the blog) among "about 92,200" weevils. Most of the rest are entomological sites, but there are a couple of (I think) different bands, and even two or three weblogs rated higher than mine. I don't much mind weevil at bossanova dot com taking the second slot, but how can The Ancestral Farm of the Weevil come in at number 10 when it hasn't been updated since October? Get it together, Google guys. Then there's the Red Palm Weevil Home page (# 7), in English and Arabic, devoted to "the most dangerous and deadly pest of date, coconut, oil, sago and other palms". It seems to be purely entomological, but offers T-shirts, hats, and coffee cups with RPWs on them.

As for the "Dr.", I'm not even in the top 200, far behind Doctors Dolittle, Dre, Koop, Laura, Strangelove, Suess, and Who -- not to mention a bunch of practicing physicians.

Posted by Dr. Weevil at March 15, 2002 10:00 PM