Are Doppelgangers Real?

The word “doppelganger” comes from the German language and literally means “double-goer” or “double-walker,” meaning a person who’s your visual copy. Unlike having an actual twin sibling, the doppelganger twins DNA will never match as they are supposed to be a carbon copy of you sans the shared genes. Spooky, right? 

And although doppelgangers are very real in mythology and in popular culture (think “Twin Peaks” or “Us”), chances to meet one in real life are very, very slim. We’ll discuss just how slim they are in the next section.

Is it Possible to Have a Doppelganger in Real Life?

In a nutshell, yes, it is possible to have a doppelganger in real life, but there’s one huge caveat—the chances of having a real-life doppelganger that matches the measurements of your facial features exactly is about one in a trillion. So, if you’re worried about identity theft or if the thought of doppelganger scary stories keeps you up at night, you can rest assured that meeting one in real life is nearly impossible. 

This leads us to another question—does everyone have a doppelganger? While we’re not aces in math or statistics, the odds are against this. You may certainly find someone who looks similar to you in your lifetime, but to say that every one of us has an exact match or a real-life doppelganger wandering around is a far shot.

Are Doppelgangers Evil?

If we’re talking about real-life doppelgangers, one can never know with them! There are all kinds of people, and doppelgangers in real life can be both as good as you or as bad as your upstairs neighbor who seemingly wears wooden clogs and dances Kozachok in ungodly hours of the night. 

If we’re talking about mythological doppelgangers, they almost certainly are all evil. Some mythologies name doppelgangers as harbingers of bad luck; most say they’re your evil twins, and the portrayal in popular culture almost always doubles them with the battle of good and evil. 

So now that we know what a doppelganger is and the truth behind doppelganger's meaning, it’s up to you to decide whether to believe in their existence.  Whether you think of them as evil entities or pure gene lottery, one thing is sure—they’re downright entertaining. Scroll down our list of real-life lookalikes and decide for yourself are doppelgangers real.