If you page Michelle Williams at an airport VIP lounge, you might get the "X-Factor" judge and one-time Destiny's Child member. Or you might get the movie star of "Oz, the Great and Powerful," "My Week With Marilyn" and "Brokeback Mountain" fame.

So confusing, these stars with the same name.

Or try Sasha Cohen. You might get the 6'3" comedic actor of "Borat," Hugo" and "Les Miserables" renown, Sasha Baron Cohen. Or you might get Sasha Cohen, the 5'2" Olympic Silver Medal-winning figure skater.

Mandy Moore is the singer ("Candy") and actress ("A Walk to Remember," "The Advocates"), yes — but Mandy Moore is also the choreographer we've seen on "So You Think You Can Dance."

Then there's the shared name of John Madden, as in the NFL and broadcasting star — and John Madden, the British film director of such fare as "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Proof" and "Shakespeare in Love." One can talk Bart Starr, the other Bard stars. Perhaps they can both discuss John Madden, the retired Canadian hockey star.

There's basketball icon Michael Jordon, and there's Michael B. Jordan, who plays Alex on "Parenthood."

Steven R. McQueen of "Vampire Diaries" has the same name as 1960s box office king, Steve McQueen. No coincidence there — the late star was his grandfather.

There was a time when you could have called for Paul Simon and you might have gotten either the troubadour who hangs with that Garfunkel guy — or the senator from Illinois who wore a bow tie. "I have all his albums," Richard Belzer once joked of the latter, who died in 2003.

Things are less amusing for Vanessa Williams. No, not the "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives" actress/singer who is the de facto winner in the unofficial Vanessa Williams name derby. That one is also known as Vanessa L. Williams — the name the Screen Actors Guild wanted her to use to differentiate herself — but if you leave out the "L," it's unlikely people will fail to identify her.

We mean the other Vanessa Williamses. While Vanessa L. was the first black Miss America, Vanessa A. was a Miss Black America. While Vanessa L. was in "Soul Food," the movie, Vanessa A. was in "Soul Food," the TV series. The lovely Vanessa A. has stand-out credits including "Melrose Place" and the movie "New Jack City," but she's nearly always referenced with Vanessa L., either as "the other" or "frequently confused with."

And then there's Vanessa R. Williams, the gospel singer

What an annoyance for the self-proclaimed King of All Media, shock jock Howard Stern, to be confused with the late Anna Nicole Smith's attorney and paramour, Howard K. Smith.

Likewise, you just know that Richard Hatch, the actor who rose to fame on the original "Battlestar Galactica" and "Dynasty," could not have been thrilled to be out-celebritied by the grating personality, "Survivor" winner and ex-convict Richard Hatch.

Musical theater and former "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander no doubt flinched when another Jason Alexander was notoriously married to Britney Spears for 55 hours.

If it hadn't been for the Screen Actors Guild, we might know Michael J. Fox and Julia Roberts simply as plain old Michael Fox and Julie Roberts today. The Guild already had performers with their names in its membership when the future major stars joined.

Country singer Julie Roberts tried out for "The Voice" this year, but none of the judges turned their chairs around.

Once, the name Fergie meant the flame-tressed Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and nobody had heard of Fergie, the singer from the Black Eyed Peas.

After Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson cheekily named her debut solo album "The Dutchess," the former royal told Boston Globe writers Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan, "I rang her up about that. I said, 'Fergie, it's Fergie. ... Now that you've done this, you have to sing at a concert for my foundation, Children in Crisis.'" American Fergie said yes and made plans to perform at fundraisers in London and New York.

Nice going.