Same syllable vowel pattern

Totally different people

Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins are very different people. Different names, different areas of expertise.

Richard Dawkins’ books include The God Delusion. Stephen Hawking is world famous for his A Brief History Of Time. “The Grand Design” was next.

Why mix them up?

Despite their being so different, every time I think of one of them, I must check to know the exact name. Perhaps this changes now that I've written this page. Why is this so difficult for me to remember, if hardly anything is similar about them?

The vowels in the two syllables of their surname are the same. It think that must be it.

And that they are both British and English.