April 22, 2025
Have you ever been told that you look strikingly similar to someone, be it a celebrity or just another random person? As a matter of fact, doppelgängers exist, and it’s not just restricted to celebrities – there is the possibility of a look-alike for every human face in the world. The concept of having someone who looks pretty much like you has fascinated people for centuries, as evidenced by the many references in literature and media.
You must have seen twins who are so similar that it is difficult to distinguish between the two. But how does one explain the odd chance of two people bearing similar looks, although they have no relation whatsoever? In this article, we explore the phenomenon of doppelgängers, unravel the science behind it, and suggest practical ways to find out your very own doppelgänger.
What Is a Doppelgänger?
The word “doppelgänger” is of German origin and literally means “double-walker.” The word comes with an intriguing historical background, as it was originally used to refer to an “other-worldly” entity that looked exactly like a living person – a ghost, so to speak. In other words, a doppelgänger was the supernatural double of a human, and the word was considered highly ominous.
It was believed that seeing your doppelgänger brought bad luck. In contemporary times, the term simply refers to two people who bear an uncanny resemblance to each other, even if they exist in different parts of the world.
What Is the Probability of Having a Doppelgänger?
The world population stands at 7.4 billion people, meaning that there are 7.4 billion different faces in the world. You might expect that there are enough people on earth for there to be a look-alike for everyone, but it’s more complicated than that. Researchers at the University of Adelaide used “eight facial metric traits (measurements of the head and facial features)” in their study and concluded that the odds of two people having the same exact face are less than one in a trillion.
Statistics aside, there are numerous accounts of people claiming to have met their look-alike by sheer coincidence.
A Case Study on Look-alikes
According to scientists, the genetic diversity in human populations is relatively limited compared to the rate of increase in our numbers. This was revealed in a study carried out to find an objective basis for the 32 pairs of humans identified as look-alikes by the French-Canadian photographer François Brunelle.
In a 2022 study, researchers placed the photos of these 32 pairs into three different facial algorithm systems, and it turned out the algorithms couldn’t distinguish the faces in 16 of the 32 pairs.
These 16 pairs were declared to be objectively virtual twins, and now came the stage to go deep down into their genes. When the scientists analyzed the DNA sequence for each participant, they found the DNA to be similar for 9 of the 16 look-alike pairs. They were then labelled as ultra-lookalikes. To be precise, they shared 3,730 genes, and the majority of these were associated with human facial features, bone and skin properties, and liquid retention.
Doppelgängers in Literature and Media
Literature and media also have abundant examples of doubles. You might be familiar with the classic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the protagonist transforms himself into his alter ego – a person who looks exactly like him in person but is the moral opposite.
A noteworthy work is Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “William Wilson,” in which the narrator meets his identical double who resembles him not just in appearance but also in mannerisms. One can see this concept in action in films like The Enemy, in which the hero spots his doppelgänger as an actor and switches his identity to live the life of his look-alike.
One prominent example in recent history is a photo of Bill Clinton and Al Gore which circulated the internet before their re-election in 1997. The picture was an illusion wherein Clinton’s facial features were superimposed on Gore’s face, although his facial structure remained intact. Still, the image was perceived to be normal by people simply because we are so familiar with the faces of Clinton and Gore that our brains could process the picture instantly despite those altered features.
Everyday Encounters with Doppelgängers
In reality, the possibility of meeting your look-alike becomes a lot higher if your face has average features. Let’s assume that a certain person has brown eyes, a round face, and short blonde hair. Provided we know how these characteristics are distributed globally, we could calculate the collective probability of someone else having the exact set of characteristics.
There is also a subjective element to facial resemblance. Some people will have trouble recognizing themselves in photos while others have a photogenic memory and can identify images even from the past. It can be said that there is a relationship between similarity and familiarity. This is why some doubles don’t easily accept that they resemble each other even when others keep pointing that out. The fact that we live in a digital age means that there will be a picture of almost everyone online at some point which would make it easier to stumble upon a doppelgänger.
The Science Behind Doppelgängers
All hereditary characteristics are carried in genes, which are distinct sequences of DNA that vary from person to person. According to the human genome project, an average individual has between 20,000 and 25,000 genes, and the complete set of genes in a person is referred to as a genome. A person’s hereditary is the result of a different combination of genes which a person inherits from their parents.
Doppelgängers – A Matter of Genetic Coincidence or Shared DNA?
In the real world, the concept of twins is the most common and normal way of understanding how two people could look like one another. After all, they share the same genealogy, or genetic structure, by virtue of being born from a homologous pair of chromosomes. That said, how does one explain two unrelated individuals who look alike?
Studies suggest that it is the presence of genetic variations that most probably results in a double body. According to research, this happens due to certain genetic markers or genetic combinations that influence facial features and contours. When these markers overlap in a person, this manifests in the form of similarities even if two people haven’t come from common ancestors.
In a new study by Dr. Esteller and coworkers in the journal Cell Reports, it was found that facial likeness is possible among people who may not be blood relatives. Much like twins, they have similar DNA sequences, which not only cause them to have identical faces, but they are also astonishingly similar in other aspects as well. An intriguing finding of the study was that since these look-alike pairs display a similar genome, they were all the more likely to have common traits such as weight, height, and even behavior.
In Part 2, we will examine such concepts as “Facial Recognition Technology” and “Where Can I Find My Doppelgänger Online?”
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Note on the header image: a pair of look-alike young women. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html
