My last name is legally `null`. Yes, all lowercase. Similarly, my middle name is `void`.
My name—particularly last name—tends to break poorly-coded websites and databases. I made this move knowing and anticipating this, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't excite me a bit when it happens—when I get to try to figure out how to work around it.
There's some prior art on similar phenomena:
The purpose of this page, is to document instances of breakages or quirks I've encountered with data systems having issue with or flat out rejecting my name.
I think of it as "#D3D3D3-hat hacking". B)
If this grows large enough, I might code a more intelligent page. For now you get raw html. ;P
| System | Date | Issue | Image | Workaround |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eBay | 2023-07-24 | Entry not accepted as valid. Capital N made no difference. | |
Adding a space to the end caused the form to accept it (space was trimmed). |
| Xfinity | 2023-07-25 | Cleared on submit. The prior entry (existing account) was retained. | N/A | Adding a space to the end caused the entry to stick (space was trimmed). |
| Big Lots | 2023-08-06 | Error on submit. | |
Space trimmed on blur and submit in client, which threw error. Capital N did not error. Despite error, the entry was accepted. |
| [local hair place] | 2023-08-14 | Email not accepted as a deliverable address. This one sort of perplexes me. | |
I ended up using a different email address—same domain, no `null`. Oddly, I later came back to try the null one again, and it went through. |
| Vanguard | 2023-08-10 | Not actually an error. But they sent me a courtesy call to confirm that my entry was *not* an error. (I did run into capitalization issues with their form, but thought it best not to hack around in financial systems) | N/A | "Yes, I did intend to enter 'null', thank you." |
| Federal Student Aid | 2023-08-31 | Name errors on submit after spinning a few moments. | |
The space trick caused a dialog to pop up confirming it is there intentionally. Capital N worked fine. |
| [insurance company] | 2024-11-08 | Last name not printed on mailed document. | |
Didn't cause problems. Just funny. |
| PayPal | 2025-01-15 | Last name replaced with `#`. | |
Didn't cause problems. Just funny. |
| DTE Energy | 2025-04-18 | Account creation / service start form failed on submit with no clear error (needed to open dev tools). | |
Capitalized also broke. Adding a space worked. |
Honorable mention: When I first changed my name (no, I wasn't born a `null`), the courts automatically Title-Cased it, despite my multiple notes across the forms asking to honor capitalization. After two more trips to the court, I had it recognized as a "clerical error", and it was revised to be cased per my original petition. B)