About 7 or 8 years ago, a relative ordered a gift basket for us and used both of our first names, which the business ran together and showed as a first name. It took about two years before we began to get catalogs from other businesses using that scrambled first name. As you stated, the businesses say they do not sell lists, Ha, Ha. Years before that we were getting mail addressed to an unknown person where my husbands scrawl had been misread. We would get mail to Mr. and Mrs. Hernadet, then laugh about it. We always knew where that name began. It never occured to either of us that these ghost relatives would follow us around.