Woman who shares name with ‘Alexa’ and ‘Siri’ always setting off tech

By Emma Dunn via SWNS

A woman who shares her name with the tech devices "Alexa" and "Siri" says she constantly sets off Amazon Echo's during online meetings when clients say her name.

Alexa Seary, 27 - whose surname is pronounced Siri - shares her name with the popular Amazon and Apple products.

She has been the butt of jokes since Apple introduced its personal assistant function, Siri, in 2011.

But she couldn’t believe it when Amazon released its own human-like bot, the Amazon Echo – and called it Alexa in 2014.

Working in a restaurant in her early 20s, Alexa was constantly faced with customers laughing at her name and giving her commands like a machine.

Now working in pharmaceutical marketing, Alexa says the jokes have died down and she now thinks her name is “cool."

Alexa, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said: “I like my name - it’s like a trademark.

“But I’m constantly setting off people’s Alexa’s in their homes when they say my name in meetings.

“I feel terrible when it’s a client call and they are all embarrassed.

“I thought sharing my surname with Siri was cool as a kid.

“When Alexa came out it went a little crazy and got a little annoying.

“Now I use it as an icebreaker.

“The odds of sharing my name with Alexa and Siri are pretty crazy.”

Alexa says people are always quick to realize the connection with her first name but don’t always pick up the ‘Siri’ link until she says her name out loud.

“People don’t twig the Siri link at first,” she said.

“As a server in the restaurant, I’d get tables messing with me.

“I go over to introduce myself and they’d laugh and say – ‘I have one of those.’

“When they’d ask for things they would say – ‘Alexa, get me this.’

“I still get that joke.”

Alexa now uses her name as an icebreaker and sees it as a positive thing.

She said: “It’s quite fitting now I work in social media marketing.

“It’s like my stage name.

“I think it’s cool and unique.

“It gets pointed out on email all the time.

“People always ask me if my parents knew when they named me but they can’t tell the future.

“I think I’ll keep the name Seary in my surname when I get married.”

Alexa is always sympathetic when she meets others with the same first name.

She said: “We’ve got that shared common ground.”