The name "James Bond" didn’t originate with spies—it came from an American ornithologist. While living in Jamaica, Ian Fleming spotted the name on the cover of Birds of the West Indies, a book he used as a reference for local bird species. Wanting a name that sounded “as ordinary as possible,” Fleming borrowed it for the hero of Casino Royale in 1953.

Years later, the real James Bond and his wife visited Fleming at his Goldeneye estate. Fleming presented Bond with a signed copy of You Only Live Twice inscribed: “To the real James Bond, from the thief of his identity.” Bond reportedly took the name-theft as a good joke. His wife later published a memoir called How 007 Got His Name, detailing the strange and amusing literary collision.