David Hurst

I’ve found myself asking this question quite a bit this week as I’ve been watching my Google rank for “David Hurst” slip a little. Clearly, with only 1 Google top spot up for grabs, and a whole bunch of us David Hursts competing for it, it’s inevitable that my site wouldn’t stay number 1 forever. Unlike these other chaps, I don’t have the time or inclination to actively market my personal blog in Google. I was interested though to see who exactly I share a name with. So, for those with time to spare, here’s my rundown of five David Hursts, starting with myself:

David Hurst - PHP / MySQL, REALbasic & Javascript Developer
Yep, that’s me. I build websites and software for my company Higher Sites Limited. I also give of my time to the Connecting Somerset Technology for Business programme, where I run workshops and seminars on practical search engine optimisation. I’ve been doing this stuff for 11 years, and that’s pretty much millenia in Internet terms.

David Hurst - Actor
I never saw any of his films, and he doesn’t seem to have done much since the 1980s. Is he still alive? Was he any good? I don’t know. Interesting that he was born in Berlin to Austrian parents. I had always thought Hurst was an English name.

David Hurst - Wedding Photographer
Fairly new to the Google top ten for my name is this chap, who by the looks of his portfolio, knows his photography. Very nice.

David Hurst - Owner of Onrec.com & Public Speaker
This David Hurst set up an online recruitment website that appears to be a directory of other recruitment websites. Pretty useful if you’re looking for a job I guess. He doesn’t look anything like me, by the way.

David Hurst - Author
His book is called “Crisis & Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change”. I’m guessing from the mis-spelling of organisational that this David Hurst lives stateside. I must confess I haven’t read his book…

All in all, we’re not a particularly thrilling breed are we? So, if you’re still reading and haven’t drifted into a coma, let’s just have a quick look at what the names mean:

David
David is a name of Hebrew origin, rather famously owned by King David of Israel, an ancestor of Jesus. It is generally thought that the name means “beloved”.

Hurst
Hurst is an old English word meaning a wood or small thicket of trees.

So, David Hurst = Beloved Wood.