Students with same name avoid possible mix-ups

BANGOR – Although they are too young to remember, two New York Medical College first-year medical students, one from Bangor, would wreak havoc on the old television game show, “To Tell the Truth.” Each week the show ended with the well-known line, “Will the real [fill in name] please stand up?” If they were contestants on the show, they both would rise for the occasion because they have the same first, middle and last names – Joshua Adam Rubin.

While this unusual occurrence could cause all sorts of confusion, the students, according to an article in the college’s newsletter, “In Touch,” aren’t fazed by it. Faculty and staff, however, take extra precautions to prevent mix-ups.

Judith A. Ehren, university registrar, met with the Joshuas to decide on a protocol for keeping their identities separate, if only on paper. Fortunately, the two young men look quite different – Joshua from Bangor, the son of Barry and Beryl Rubin, has red hair; the other Joshua has dark hair and often wears a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap.

In her career, Ehren has encountered students with the same first and last names, but never with the same middle name and certainly not in the same class.

“This is a unique experience for us, indeed – and I am sure we’ll be able to handle the challenge,” she said.

During her meeting with the two Joshuas, it was decided for record-keeping and administrative purposes, that Joshua Adam Rubin of Bangor will be known as Josh Rubin and that Joshua Adam Rubin of St. Louis, Mo., will be known as Joshua A. Rubin. When they graduate in four years, their official records will be reactivated with their full names so that their degrees will reflect their legal names.

Josh and Joshua A. have agreed to make professors aware of the situation and to cut off at the pass any possible turmoil. Though they haven’t been plagued with receiving one another’s mail, e-mail or phone calls, there could have been a potential glitch at registration – one was due a refund check from the bursar and the other owed money.

Reprinted with permission of New York Medical College.