1970: Name Dominoes

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Name Dominoes

Title text: In competition, you can only play a name if you know who the person is. No fair saying "Frank ... Johnson. That sounds like a real person! Let me just Google him real quick."

• A large version of the comic picture can be found here.
• A numbered version can be found here.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by Fats Domino: Table links should be checked and explanation and connections added. (Add a full transcript... "Done!" And good luck with that! "Thanks".) Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Dominoes is a family of boardgames played with rectangular "domino" tiles. A domino tile is divided into two squares, each displaying a number. Under most rules, a domino tile is placed on the table adjacent to another tile, and the adjacent ends must match in some way (namely by the number displayed on the touching ends). Randall's "name dominoes" shows a set of domino tiles with people's names instead of numbers, and adjacent tiles are matched by whether the closest name is the same (such as how Chris Evans' family name matches Evan Taylor Jones' given name).

The title text spells out a rule that a player may only place a tile if they know who that person is. This is a variation of a rule in Scrabble, where a player loses a turn if their chosen word don't survive a dictionary challenge over the validity of the word. This rule implies that players are allowed to create new name dominoes tiles and that it is not a fixed set. In this case the player that is challenged has used the name Frank Johnson of which there are 12 exact matches on Wikipedia along with six with a middle name and more. In a google search as of the day the comic came out the first hit was Frank Johnson who is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. Randall has made several references to basketball in his comics.

A large board is covered in rectangular "dominoes" (270), with each domino bearing the name of a "well-known" person or character (fictional). The dominoes are arranged as if a game of dominoes were being played, but instead of the game requiring the number of spots of adjacent dominoes to match up, this game requires adjacent names to match up. Because most people have two or more names, different matches are made at each end of a domino. Fun fact is that two of the people is "named after" the game: Fats Domino and Domino Harvey.

The match can be exact (e.g., "Kevin" on one domino adjacent to "Kevin" on another), homonymic (e.g., "Klein" adjacent to "Kline"), or nickname-based (e.g., "James" adjacent to "Jimmy", which in turn is adjacent to "Jim"). Sometimes last names are matched up with first names (e.g., "Elizabeth Warren" adjacent to "Warren Beatty"), and in some cases only a single name is used (e.g., "Columbo", "Drake", "Garfield", "Prince"). Singular names are represented by a half-size square "domino", with a few exceptions: "Garnet" has a full-size tile (a complex reference explained below), and "Batman" and "Superman" have full-size tiles and are placed as though they were two-part names: the first square of "Superman" is matched with "Super", and the second square is matched with the second square of "Batman" (as though both characters had the last name "Man"). Some people have three or more names (e.g., "Frank Lloyd Wright") and have a 3-square domino tile (50% longer than normal) which permits matching to a middle name (e.g. "Frank Lloyd Wright" is matched to "Lloyd Alexander" and "Harold Lloyd").

The names come from a wide variety of fields: scientists (e.g., Isaac Newton), historical figures (George Washington), musicians (Drake), politicians (John Kerry), actors (Kevin Costner), writers (Washington Irving), fashion designers (Oscar de la Renta), and so on. Most of the names are real people but a few are fictional characters, including some non-human characters like Garfield and Super Grover. In one case the nick name for a company is used: Ma Bell aka Bell System.

One notable reference beyond just the use of a name is in the bottom left, there is the connection [ William Safire ][ Garnet ][ Ruby, Jack ]. The connection seems to be based on the fact that Sapphire, Garnet and Ruby are all gemstones, which does not match the implied rules of the game. This tile is a reference to the character Garnet in the cartoon Steven Universe, who is a "fusion" formed by two Gems: Ruby and Sapphire. Thus, the name "Garnet" is treated as though it was two names "Ruby" and "Sapphire", requiring a two-square tile despite having a one-word name. Randall has previously made references to this universe in 1608: Hoverboard. (See this and this image from that comic).

Additionally, Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan and Rand Paul have been mentioned before, in the title text of 1277: Ayn Random. That idea may have been the prototype for this.

In at least one case it is not entirely clear who is being referred to: "John Kelly" most likely refers to Gen. John F. Kelly, Donald Trump's chief of staff, but the name is extremely common and could equally refer to any number of people.

Table of names

• Work in progress
  • The number # refers to the numbers on this numbered picture.
    • Read more on this page:
    • 1970: Name Dominoes/Numbered images
• Wiki links not tested as they were set in only from the name in the comic.
  • Spell checking...

Domino	Notability and notes	Connections	Mode	#
Christian Campbell				1
Neve Campbell				2
Joe McCarthy				3
Eugene McCarthy				4
Gene Vincent				5
Gene Kelly				6
Kate Hudson				7
Rock Hudson				8
Gordon Brown				9
James Brown				10
Jon Brown				11
John Howard	Australian politician. Served as 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 1996-2007.			12
Columbo	Fictional character. Homicide detective from American TV show "Columbo"; portrayed by actor Peter Falk.			13
Chris Columbus	Film director and screenwriter.	Columbo Christopher Columbus Chris Hughes	Last-Only (approximate) First-First (approximate) and Last-Last First-First	14
Christopher Columbus	Italian explorer. Credited with "discovering" the Americas in 1492 by leading voyages and establishing continued ties between Europe and the Americas.			15
Naomi Campbell	British model and actress.			16
Joseph Campbell	American author. Most known for his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces about the hero type found throughout world mythologies.			17
Joseph Smith	American religious leader; founder of Mormonism. Publisher of The Book of Mormon.			18
Frank Vincent	American actor.			19
John Kelly	White House Chief of Staff under President Donald Trump. Retired US Marine Corps general.			20
Katherine Johnson	African-American mathematician at NASA. Calculated trajectories, launch windows, and flight paths for NASA moon missions and the Space Shuttle.			21
The Rock	Nickname for Dwayne Johnson, a pro wrestler and actor.			22
Chris Rock				23
Chris Isaac				24
James Newton Howard				25
John Wayne				26
Howard Stern				27
Howard Hunt				28
Chris Hughes				29
Naomi Watts				30
Naomi Klein				31
Kevin Kline				32
Francis Bacon				33
Francis Drake				34
Lyndon Johnson				35
Oscar the Grouch				36
Oscar Isaac				37
Isaac Hayes				38
Isaac Newton	Well-known 1600s physicist who created the three laws of motion.			39
Wayne Newton				40
Wayne Knight				41
Helen Hunt				42
Helen Hughes				43
James Watt (Steam)				44
James Watt (Interior)				45
Kevin Costner				46
Kevin Bacon				47
Kevin Love				48
Lisa Frank				49
Frank Drake				50
Drake				51
Oscar de la Renta				52
Oscar de la Hoya				53
Sean Hayes				54
Wallace Shawn				55
Wayne Howard				56
Wayne Brady				57
James Brady				58
Tom Brady				59
Helen Thomas				60
Tom Hanks				61
Hank Aaron				62
Aaron Carter				63
Stephen James				64
Will Smith				65
Kevin Smith				66
Kein James				67
Garfield				68
James Garfield				69
Warren Buffett				70
Jimmy Buffett				71
Warren Beatty				72
Elizabeth Warren				73
Earl Warren				74
Elizabeth Kolbert				75
Stephen Colbert				76
George Wallace				77
Charles Wallace				78
James Monroe				79
Marilyn Monroe				80
Hank Williams				81
William C. Williams				82
Steve Harvey				83
Domino Harvey				84
Harvey Milk				85
James Saint James				86
Etta James (1)	Used again in 266			87
Jim Jones				88
James Earl Jones				89
Charlie Parker				90
Ray Parker Jr.				91
Ray Charles				92
Charles Manson				93
Marilyn Manson				94
Robin Williams				95
Billy D. Williams				96
Will Wright				97
Fats Domino				98
Bill Clinton				99
Jimmy John				100
Tom Jones				101
Tommy John				102
Quincy Jones				103
James Earl Ray				104
Man Ray				105
Rachel Ray				106
Ray Allen				107
Tim Allen				108
Tim Cook				109
Tim Howard				110
Robin Wright				111
Wilbur Wright				112
Fatty Arbuckle				113
Fat Joe				114
George Clinton				115
John Kerry				116
Kerry Washington				117
John Irving				118
John Quincy Adams				119
John Adams				120
Amy Adams				121
Aimee Mann				122
Superman				123
Batman				124
Ayn Rand				125
Lily Allen				126
Paul Allen				127
Ron Howard				128
Howard Hughes				129
Joe Kennedy				130
George Bush				131
George Wasington				132
Wasington Irving				133
Martha Wasington				134
Ma Rainey				135
Jack Ma				136
Super Grover				137
Jack Black				138
Rand Paul				139
Paul Ryan				140
Paul Simon				141
Ron Paul				142
John Hughes				143
Langston Hughes				144
John F. Kennedy				145
Little Richard				146
Rich Little				147
Martha Stewart				148
Yo Yo Ma				149
Ma Bell	Aka Bell System, the system of companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by AT&T, which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984.			150
Grover Cleveland Alexander				151
Grover Cleveland				152
Jack White				153
Jack Ryan				154
Debby Ryan				155
Carly Simon				156
Carly Hughes				157
Charles Evans Hughes				158
John Williams				159
Little John				160
Stuart Little				161
Potter Stewart				162
Kristen Stewart				163
Kristen Bell				164
Kristen Hooks				165
Alexander Graham Bell				166
Franklin Graham				167
Lloyd Alexander				168
Meg White				169
Meg ryan				170
Debbie Reynolds				171
John Reynolds				172
Carly Fiorina				173
Grace Lee Boggs				174
Wade Boggs				175
William Safire				176
Prince William				177
Little Prince				178
Harry Potter				179
James Potter				180
James Hook				181
James Dean				182
Aretha Franklin				183
Frank Lloyd Wright				184
Barry White				185
Walter White				186
Walt Whitman				187
John Kelly				188
Grace Lee				189
Nancy Grace				190
Garnet	A garnet is a gem stone and the two names around here are William Safire (almost Sapphire) and Jack Ruby as in Ruby. But it is not just used because they are all gemstones. It is instead a reference to the character Garnet in the cartoon Steven Universe. She is a "fusion" formed by two gems: Ruby and Sapphire, hence the legal connection in the Name Dominoes... Randall has previously made references to this universe in 1608: Hoverboard. (See this and this image from that comic).	William Safire Jack Ruby	Last-Only (as a Sapphire gem stone) Last-Only (as a Ruby gem stone) Both used to fuse together to Garnet.	191
Prince				192
Prince Felder				193
Prince Harry				194
Harry Styles				195
John Dean				196
Benjamin Franklin				197
Harrold Lloyd				198
Harrold Ford				199
Betty White				200
Meg Whitman				201
Christine Todd Whitman				202
Megyn Kelly				203
Grace Kelly				204
Grace Jones				205
Jack Nicholson				206
Jack Ruby				207
Jack Russel				208
Harry Fielder				209
Harry Trueman				210
Harry Jon Benjamin				211
John Edward				212
Benjamin Harrison				213
Harrison Ford				214
Henry Ford				215
Betty Ford				216
Betty Friedan				217
Chris Christie				218
Chris Pratt				219
Maggie Grace				220
Grace Hopper				221
Russel Crowe				222
Russ Smith				223
John Smith				224
Justin Long				225
John Bel Edwards				226
John Candy				227
John Henry				228
Henry James				229
Bill James				230
Chirs Cooper				231
Chirs Hemsworth				232
Chirs Evans				233
Topher Grace				234
Van Morrison				235
Sheryl Crow				236
Sheryl Sandberg				237
Cameron Crow				238
Long John Silver				239
Olivia Newton John				240
Huey long				241
John Edwards				242
Candy Crowley				243
Alestier Crowley				244
James Fenimore Cooper				245
James Cook	18th century British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy.	Alistair Cooke Cokie Roberts Alistair Cookie James Fenimore Cooper	Last-Last (approximate) Last-First (approximate) Last-Last (approximate) First-First	246
Robert Frost				247
Bob Evans				248
Evan Tayler Jones				249
James Cameron				250
Cam Newton				251
Cameron Diaz				252
Huey Newton				253
Huey Lewis				254
John Lewis				255
Jenny Lewis				256
Ryan Lewis				257
Burt Reynolds				258
Alistair Cooke	Name misspelled Alistiar Cooke in the comic.			259
Alistair Cookie	A parody of Alistair Cooke "played" by Cookie Monster in the Sesame Street sketch "Monsterpiece Theatre" in the 1980s, a parody of the PBS series "Masterpiece Theatre".	James Cook Alastair Reynolds	Last-Last (approximate) First-First (approximate)	260
Cokie Roberts				261
John Roberts				262
Robert Johnson				263
Robert E. Lee				264
Tommy Lee				265
Tommy Lee Jones				266
Etta James (2)	Used first time in 86			267
John Oliver				268
Ryan Reynolds				269
Alastair Reynolds				270

Transcript

[This comic a large grid with 270 black "domino" tiles. On each tile there is a name written with white text. The grid is arranged so that each touching side corresponds with the first or last name of another person (or at least there are some kind of relation between the names on the end of connecting tiles). Some of the domino tiles are rotated 90, 180 or 270 degrees so the text is either to be read down, up-side down or up. The names on the tiles are listed here below in approximate reading order, thus staring top left and moving over the grid from left to right and down. Each swipe left to right covers approximately tiles that are within a span of one standard tile in height. To be exact it lists the names in the order they were numbered in this image. One name is used twice, Etta James.]

Christian Campbell

Neve Campbell

Joe McCarthy

Eugene McCarthy

Gene Vincent

Gene Kelly

Kate Hudson

Rock Hudson

Gordon Brown

James Brown

Jon Brown

John Howard

Columbo

Chris Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Naomi Campbell

Joseph Campbell

Joseph Smith

Frank Vincent

John Kelly

Katherine Johnson

The Rock

Chris Rock

Chris Isaac

James Newton Howard

John Wayne

Howard Stern

Howard Hunt

Chris Hughes

Naomi Watts

Naomi Klein

Kevin Kline

Francis Bacon

Francis Drake

Lyndon Johnson

Oscar the Grouch

Oscar Isaac

Isaac Hayes

Isaac Newton

Wayne Newton

Wayne Knight

Helen Hunt

Helen Hughes

James Watt (Steam)

James Watt (Interior)

Kevin Costner

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Love

Lisa Frank

Frank Drake

Drake

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Hoya

Sean Hayes

Wallace Shawn

Wayne Howard

Wayne Brady

James Brady

Tom Brady

Helen Thomas

Tom Hanks

Hank Aaron

Aaron Carter

Stephen James

Will Smith

Kevin Smith

Kein James

Garfield

James Garfield

Warren Buffett

Jimmy Buffett

Warren Beatty

Elizabeth Warren

Earl Warren

Eliabeth Kolbert

Stephen Colbert

George Wallace

Charles Wallace

James Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Hank Williams

William C. Williams

Steve Harvey

Domino Harvey

Harvey Milk

James Saint James

Etta James

Jim Jones

James Earl Jones

Charlie Parker

Ray Parker Jr.

Ray Charles

Charles Manson

Marilyn Manson

Robin Williams

Billy D. Williams

Will Wright

Fats Domino

Bill Clinton

Jimmy John

Tom Jones

Tommy John

Quincy Jones

James Earl Ray

Man Ray

Rachel Ray

Ray Allen

Tim Allen

Tim Cook

Tim Howard

Robin Wright

Wilbur Wright

Fatty Arbuckle

Fat Joe

George Clinton

John Kerry

Kerry Washington

John Irving

John Quincy Adams

John Adams

Amy Adams

Aimee Mann

Superman

Batman

Ayn Rand

Lily Allen

Paul Allen

Ron Howard

Howard Hughes

Joe Kennedy

George Bush

George Wasington

Wasington Irving

Martha Wasington

Ma Rainey

Jack Ma

Super Grover

Jack Black

Rand Paul

Paul Ryan

Paul Simon

Ron Paul

John Hughes

Langston Hughes

John F. Kennedy

Little Richard

Rich Little

Martha Stewart

Yo Yo Ma

Ma Bell

Grover Cleveland Alexander

Grover Cleveland

Jack White

Jack Ryan

Debby Ryan

Carly Simon

Carly Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes

John Williams

Little John

Stuart Little

Potter Stewart

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Bell

Kristen Hooks

Alexander Graham Bell

Franklin Graham

Lloyd Alexander

Meg White

Meg ryan

Debbie Reynolds

John Reynolds

Carly Fiorina

Grace Lee Boggs

Wade Boggs

William Safire

Prince William

Little Prince

Harry Potter

James Potter

James Hook

James Dean

Aretha Franklin

Frank Lloyd Wright

Barry White

Walter White

Walt Whitman

John Kelly

Grace Lee

Nancy Grace

Garnet

Prince

Prince Felder

Prince Harry

Harry Styles

John Dean

Benjamin Franklin

Harrold Lloyd

Harrold Ford

Betty White

Meg Whitman

Christine Todd Whitman

Megyn Kelly

Grace Kelly

Grace Jones

Jack Nicholson

Jack Ruby

Jack Russel

Harry Fielder

Harry Trueman

Harry Jon Benjamin

John Edward

Benjamin Harrison

Harrison Ford

Henry Ford

Betty Ford

Betty Friedan

Chris Christie

Chris Pratt

Maggie Grace

Grace Hopper

Russel Crowe

Russ Smith

John Smith

Justin Long

John Bel Edwards

John Candy

John Henry

Henry James

Bill James

Chirs Cooper

Chirs Hemsworth

Chirs Evans

Topher Grace

Van Morrison

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Sandberg

Cameron Crow

Long John Silver

Olivia Newton John

Huey long

John Edwards

Candy Crowley

Alestier Crowley

James Fenimore Cooper

James Cook

Robert Frost

Bob Evans

Evan Tayler Jones

James Cameron

Cam Newton

Cameron Diaz

Huey Newton

Huey Lewis

John Lewis

Jenny Lewis

Ryan Lewis

Burt Reynolds

Alistiar Cooke

Alistair Cookie

Cokie Roberts

John Roberts

Robert Johnson

Robert E. Lee

Tommy Lee

Tommy Lee Jones

Etta James

John Oliver

Ryan Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds

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Discussion

This comic is a long list of names overlayed onto black domino tiles, arranged so that each touching side corresponds with the first or last name of another person. This will be difficult to transcribe. 108.162.221.53 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Would it be possible to use a fixed width format and try and transcribe like an actual scrabble board? I think there are unicode characters for upside-down and rotated text that we could use for the flipped names. But yes, definitely will be difficult.172.68.211.244 18:21, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

The transcript doesn't need upside-down and rotated text. It should be enough to mention that some tiles are. A first draft with all names would be good, but even mentioning all the connections would be to complex to read. Think about the reader... --Dgbrt (talk) 18:39, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

How about using a fixed-width font and then representing each domino with an alphanumeric character, and then put a list below of what each character corresponds to? Even though there are more dominoes than characters, duplicate uses of a character (but referring to different names) can be easily disambiguated if we assign each character in order, left to right and top to bottom. 172.69.70.71 20:04, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

I have made an image where each tile is numbered from left to right. See this picture and Explanation here. I have created a transcript from this list. And the table --Kynde (talk) 14:01, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Do you think that maybe Randall created this comic just to screw with this wiki? 108.162.221.53 14:51, 22 March 2018 (UTC)Martin

Certainly, a real explanation to Randall's Name Dominoes doesn't need a numbered list or one of these overwhelming tables. A short overview (a small bullet list would be the best) to the rules implied by the image and shown in the title text would be a proper explanation. Everything else is trivia at maximum. And I can't resist: This table, whenever it will be completely filled, tops them all...--Dgbrt (talk) 21:30, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

The purpose of the transcript is so someone can search the site for a phrase (or in this case, a name) used in a strip, and find the page for it. Encode the words using upside-down UNICODE letters would defeat that purpose. JamesCurran (talk) 22:12, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

I see alternative names or nicknames sometimes matches together. But is the Chris Pratt/Chris Evans match with Topher Grace a bit of a stretch? I see that Topher is a variation of Christopher and Chis is a shortening of the same. But I guess it must be an acceptable move if Randle put it in the comic. Maybe it’s worth special points or something. 162.158.38.70 18:14, 21 March 2018 (UTC)TheStewart

Walter White/Walt Whitman is a reference to Breaking Bad. 172.68.58.101 18:20, 21 March 2018 (UTC)Pat

And Garnet being used to join Ruby and Saffire is clever... 141.101.98.64 18:23, 21 March 2018 (UTC) This is a reference to Steven Universe where there is a character, Garnet, who is a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire.

"The title text spells out a rule that a player may only place a tile if they know who that person is" is mention as a reason for it not to be a fixed set of dominos, But I took it to mean you can't use "Jim Jones" unless you know of Jim Jones; as in, I could challenge your use of it by asking "okay who is he?". Maybe saying "oh, he went to school with me" or something wouldn't count, anymore than "crft is too a word!" works in Scrabble Afbach (talk) 19:36, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Harrison Ford is from Blade Runner I believe. 162.158.2.124 23:07, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Ma Bell is interesting... is it the only one that not an actual person? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System

Alistair Cooke's name is misspelt "Alistiar"; it'll be interesting to see if this gets corrected (as errors sometimes do). Not to be confused with Alistair Cookie, a short distance away! -- Peregrine (talk) 08:45, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

I think maybe Chris Isaac (Canadian football quarterback) was intended to be Chris Isaak (American rock musician, singer, and actor). Can we just assume that was a mistake? Imperpay (talk) 14:29, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Maybe a table?

I think a table would be a useful and user-friendly way of capturing everything that's going on here. Forgive this feeble attempt. I am not an html coder. I know enough to go steal something somewhere and see if it works:

Domino	Notability	Connections	Mode
Alistair Cookie	A parody of Alistair Cooke "played" by Cookie Monster in the Sesame Street sketch "Monsterpiece Theatre" in the 1980s, a parody of the PBS series "Masterpiece Theatre".	James Cook Alastair Reynolds	Last-Last (approximate) First-First (approximate)
James Cook	18th century British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy.	Alistair Cooke Cokie Roberts Alistair Cookie James Fenimore Cooper	Last-Last (approximate) Last-First (approximate) Last-Last (approximate) First-First
Chris Columbus	Film director and screenwriter.	Columbo Christopher Columbus Chris Hughes	Last-Only (approximate) First-First (approximate) and Last-Last First-First

Imperpay (talk) 23:27, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

I like that idea. Especially because it would mean that all those links are removed from the transcript. As far as I understand transcripts (at least in this wiki) they don't inlcude any meta information (e.g. nothing that is not shown in the comic). Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:48, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Yes great example of a table, and yes no wiki links in transcript. I will put this in the explanation now. --Kynde (talk) 09:42, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

I have now made an image where each tile is numbered from left to right. See this picture and Explanation here. I have created a transcript from this list. And the table --Kynde (talk) 14:01, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Great job, thanks for the effort :) Should the table be moved to a separate page? Beacuse it's really massive... And another thing: I think the name list in the transcript as it was before (excluding links, of course) was better. At least for someone who is not visually impaired Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 14:52, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

And I thought Alistair Cookie was a reference to the fact Alistair Cook is batting like a muppet. BTW I have WG Grace and Grace Darling in my hand - but i cannot seem to fit them in. 141.101.107.204 17:16, 22 March 2018 (UT

I've created a table/spreadsheet of all the numbers, with a,b,c meaning first, second, and third part of name, respectively, here. Also, Van Jones is missing in both the numbered image and all text on this page. Ad1217 (talk) 04:40, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for pointing out that I failed to number the tile after 249. I'm now correcting the image adding this as number 250 and correcting the numbers after that. Ad1217 could you update your spreadsheet, and would it be OK to add a picture of this to the explanation? (I spotted an error in your spreadsheet as well, as you have used 286b rather than 268b at the bottom, but correctly used 268a --Kynde (talk) 09:55, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Feel free to use it however you like! Also, it's publicly editable, so feel free to fix any other issues. My plan is to write a script to map names->boxes, then ideally make an html table with text transformed correctly, but it could take a bit of time before I get that working right. Ad1217 (talk) 08:24, 24 March 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else see the connection between "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" and the fact that this picture is basically a network/graph? 108.162.249.136 05:25, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

I was disappointed that Kevin Bacon isn't a clear node of some sort. The joke could have been extended by adding a Paul Erdős tile. --Quantum7 (talk) 08:41, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall used an algorithm to build this. It would be interesting to generate dense domino packings automatically. Does he have an official github account or similar? --Quantum7 (talk) 08:42, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

I'll continue looking into it, and thought it might be worth mentioning. Could this be some kind of QR code?

Would it be helpful to fill in still-missing entries of the Notability column of the Table of Names. I can volunteer to do that. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 10:49, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Looking at some of the missing entries in the Notability column for common names (eg. John Lewis, Chris Evans) and wondering what the best approach to this is. To me as a British person, John Lewis is a department store and Chris Evans is a radio presenter and former Top Gear host, however I realise this is not the case everywhere - Chris Evans is also an actor who featured in the Marvel films (probably more likely who Randell was referring to). Would it be best to list all notable people with that name (how do we decide who is notable enough?...) or should we just link the Wikipedia entry for people with that name? AlChemist (talk) 10:49, 3 March 2019 (UTC)

Other languages

Can "Name Dominoes" grids written in another non-English alphabet be assembled? ColorfulGalaxy (talk) 08:36, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Yo-Yo Ma is American, not Chinese

...according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-Yo_Ma#). 172.70.114.210 (talk) 15:50, 29 October 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Well, the Yo-Yo Ma article says American, but born in Paris of Chinese parents and only moved to the US at age seven. (No clue given as to whether he was naturalised, on arrival/later, or one or both parents were US citizens to start with.)

By my reckoning, he's at least Chinese-American (and has taken that label at face value for some of his life). Wouldn't know how much he still possesses official natural-born Frenchness on top of that (if his actual arrival wasn't in an embassy grounds, or something additionally complicating). These sorts of things can be messy to tie down exactly, and often vastly reinterpretable according to the situation. 172.70.162.142 17:01, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

According to the Simple English Wikipedia, Yo-Yo Ma is a “French born Chinese-American”. 42.book.addict (talk) 17:28, 29 October 2024 (UTC)