Joe Paterno picks up the phone at his Oak Ridge, N.J., home once a week or more as callers look for that other Joe Paterno.

"I'm sorry, but that's not the Joe Paterno you've reached," he'll say.

The JoePa who answers is one of 16 different people across the country who has a listed telephone number and shares the iconic Penn State football coach's name, according to zabasearch.com, an online phone directory.

This Paterno, who makes his living as a lawyer, follows his family's legacy of naming their children Joe Paterno. He is the third Joe Paterno in his family and made his 11-year-old son the fourth.

"It's something where people remember me because of the name," he said. "Eight years later, 12 years later, people remember me as being on that end of a transaction."

The name also led to a humorous story about the beauty shop his grandfather operated, the Joe Paterno House of Beauty in Kinnelon, N.J. Kurt Allerman, a 1976 All-America linebacker at Penn State, also hails from the same town.

The sign for the beauty parlor was stolen, and word got back to the shop owners the sign ended up in the Penn State locker room.

"You're gonna get me in big trouble now," Allerman said with a laugh when asked about the beauty parlor. "I had nothing to do with it."

Allerman said his high school teammates drove the sign to Penn State, but the football team kept it out of the head coach's sight.

"Nothing's a secret in the locker room," Allerman said. "We thought it was comical. Everybody got a good laugh."

The incident was taken in stride by the parlor's family.

"He didn't care," Paterno said of his grandfather. "It was a little $10 sign. He was a little amused."

Not every Paterno reached is amused with the connection to the coach. One woman at an Amherst, N.Y., residence hung up the phone immediately when a caller asked for Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, and a woman living in Fort Worth, Texas scoffed.

The Joe Paterno in Portland, Ore., plays along with the joke. He dressed up as Penn State's football coach when the Nittany Lions met Oregon in the 1995 Rose Bowl. Occasionally, he'll string people along, making them believe the famous Joe Paterno is an uncle -- or, sometimes, a grandfather.

Before he married his wife, Mary Jane, he had yet to meet her grandmother.

"She knew her granddaughter was marrying Joe Paterno," he said. "She was flipping through the channels on TV and heard his name. She saw the coach on the field and says, 'He's much too old for my granddaughter.' "

That incident was more than 26 years ago.

Neither Joe Paterno has used the name to his advantage, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Oregon resident is opposed to the idea.

"Tell him some day I want some tickets out of this," he said with a laugh. "At least."

Both Joe Paternos are thankful their name isn't shared with someone more dubious.

"It's better than your name being Woody Hayes," the Oregon resident said. "Hayes went crazy."

"As long as Joe doesn't become evil and a serial murderer, I'll be safe," New Jersey's Joe Paterno said.

If it does happen?

"I guess I'll go by a more formal name like Theodore," he said. "Or a middle initial."