Who is Sue Guilfoil mentioned in spam e-mails, or, if not a real
person (as I suspect), why are spammers using this particular name so
commonly in their spam e-mails?  And, why -- with all the discussion
about spam -- am I the only one asking about Ms. Guilfoil, since this
name has been common in spams for a few years now?  Is this some kind
of 'inside joke' for spammers, having a chuckle at our expense?

I can't recall ever seeing this name in any of my spam. My husband
searched through several thousand deleted spam emails in his trash,
and he couldn't find the name "Sue Guilfoil" anywhere.

I searched through 4,000 spams and didn't come across it.

Moreover, the name is not to be found in
news.admin.net-abuse.sightings:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=news.admin.net-abuse.sightings
- a discussion list where most spam is documented (in order to fight
it).

Spammers often try to put your name in the subject or as sender to get
your attention and make you think it is a personalized mail. I would
bet that somehow somehwere you got on a spam list with the name Sue
Guilfoil attached to your email address.

Note To Commenters:
I understand that spammers like to personalize their spams.  I have no
friends or associates named Sue Guilfoil or I would have noted the
connection.

I receive about 300 - 500 spams per week and have seen seen probably
1,000 Sue Guilfoil's over the pasr year.  That's only a small
percentage, but that name shows up WAY more often than any other name
in my spams.

Thanks very much for your comments.

I would still bet that your email address is connected with the fake
name on _A_ spammer list, which would explain why it is only on a
fraction of your spam. You would not have had to put the name on the
list yourself nor would you have to know someone by that name for the
name to get connected. Someone could have done this as a joke to you
or someone could have borrowed your email address and given a fake
name when registering for something.