Most common first names at a local New Jersey bagel shop

Learning this kind of came up as a joke. While waiting for my order at the local bagel shop, I essentially learned first-hand what the most common first names are of those who order bagels.

To put this into context, my name is pretty common. At least, it's common enough to where I always leave a last initial whenever my name is asked for an order.

Sometimes, I leave two initials. The reason for that is that one time I put my name down on an order with my last initial, and I was told they already had someone else waiting under that same name.

So that's where I came up with leaving the double initial. I mean, surely the odds of that coming up twice would be slim?

And so far, that's proven to be the case. Every time I now go to my local bagel shop (or anywhere for that matter) and they ask me for my name to go with the order, it's always a double initial.

Recently, that came up in conversation with one of the staff there who took my order. I explained my reasoning behind it and they told me my name wasn't as common as one might think.

Surprised, I asked them what the most common names were for people who come into order. And they gave me not one, but two different names.

And to note, they said they usually don't have duplication issues with women's names. It's only two specific male names.

The first name they told me that's constantly being left is Joe. Now maybe it's my town, but apparently, we have a ton of Joe's that like to have bagels and coffee.

But good old Joe isn't alone here. Just as high on the list is the name Bob. Yep, Bob and Joe sure love their bagels.

So much so, that every employee at the bagel shop said those are the two names that are constantly being left with orders. That's gotta be something when they shout out those names and half the store responds.

So now I was curious. Was this a trend across other bagel shops, or just this particular one?

Whelp, it didn't take long to get my answer. I recently stopped by another bagel shop closer to my work location and asked the same question.

Unfortunately for Bob, his name didn't come up immediately this time. But Joe sure did, and it was their top name. Afterward, I asked about the name Bob, and they said they see that one quite a bit too, but not as much as Joe.

So what's the conclusion of this? It's that both Bob and Joe are pretty awesome people who really like a good Jersey bagel.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.