The Other Hayley Beale

I was surprised to find that there are 29 people named Hayley Beale in the UK. Beale is not a particularly common last name, and the spelling of Hayley is unusual – I was named after the actress Hayley Mills who was a British child star in the 1960’s. There are few (if any) of us in America, where our first name is usually spelled Hailey or Haley.

So what are some of the other Hayley Beales up to?

There’s one who’s just got engaged and lives in Southend on Sea, the town where I was born. She organizes the annual reunion for the Southend High School Old Girls Association.

There’s one who is now a talent attraction consultant and used to be a lighting designer.

And there’s one who’s a baker in the North of England and who has two young children.

It’s fascinating what you can glean about people by trawling through the Internet, though I don’t think I’ve yet found enough to set me off writing The Other Hayley Beale a la Wes Moore. At first I found it a little unsettling to see photos of women who were not me labeled with my name, but after a while I start feeling a kinship with them and wanted to find out more about them.