I was bound and determined to find John Moore. It was Christmas Eve 2009. I was new to Facebook and didn’t quite understand exactly how it worked, its potential or what it would one day become. But I did know that you could find people on it.

As Santa delivered gifts to good little boys and girls, I poured myself a cocktail and sat down at the computer and began to look for John Moore.

When I was born in the early 1960s, John was the No. 1 name for boys.

Moore is a common surname but wasn’t anywhere near the top of Last Name lists then.

It has since risen to the 11th most common surname in America.

My thought was this: If both of my names are so common, there must be a lot of other me’s.

So, I typed “John Moore” into the search window. A lot of John Moores came up.

I spent more than two hours sending friend requests to John Moore.

With the invitation, I included a simple explanation. The John Moores of the world should all gather together as a group of friends.

Not for any reason in particular, but just because we could.

I lost count of how many John Moore’s I invited. It was a lot. I was tired, so I went to bed.

To my surprise, over the next few days most of the John Moores accepted.

I began to interact with many of them and learned more about the other guys who shared my name.

One is a guy about my age who loves KISS and lives in New York State.

Another is Canadian and has lots of degrees.

One is in Germany, while another is in England.

What started out as a whim has turned into an interesting experience.

The next step, I guess, should be an official Facebook page.

Maybe a reunion after that.

Maybe KISS would even play at the reunion.

I know John Moore would be thrilled if they did.

©2014 John Moore