Besides the thousands of people he cheated, Bernie Madoff has a secondary set of victims—the innocent folk how share his now-notorious last name. Madoff’s daughter-in-law is trying to change hers, and now others Madoffs are coming out of the woodwork. One says the family moniker has become a daily burden: “I eat out a lot, but I stopped using the name Madoff for reservations altogether,” Harriet Madoff told the Times, adding that “My last name has become ‘Madoff-Not Related.’” She’s not the only one to repeat that refrain.
Steven Madoff works as a critic at the Yale School of Art. “I do lot of traveling as an art critic, and every time I cross any border, anywhere I go, in any language, in any airport, the customs person looks at my passport and looks at me and asks if I’m related,” he said. “Now before they ask, I always say, ‘Not related.’” Adelaide Madoff’s name is a daily reminder of a decision she regrets: investing and losing a third of her savings with the Ponzi schemer.
Being named Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer, at least carries limited bragging rights. “I get guys saying, ‘Cool, are you any relation?’” said Jeffrey Daumer, a death-metal enthusiast. “They’ll make me pull out my ID to prove my last name’s Dahmer.” But with Bernie behind bars, no one wants to be Madoff. Harriet Madoff says she’d take a killer’s name over the scammer’s, and in fact, she has. “My ex-husband’s name was Oswald, and I used it informally,” she said. “It still wasn’t as bad as Madoff is now.”
