What's in a Name?

Once again today, a French person (this time a shopkeeper) made a bit of friendly conversation with a comment about my last name. Because of my concerns about the security of the Internet I'm not going to mention it but if you have any business reading this blog, you know what it is. His comment? "That's not an American name." Of course, there are pages and pages of the phone book in most major American cities filled with folks who share my last name. So what do you suppose the French consider an American name? Smith? Jones? Hmmmm...wonder what they think of Obama, Giuliani, Leno, O'Brien, and other names on CNN's top U.S. stories tonight.