i sold frozen beef, newspapers, loan consolidations, satellite tv, and all sorts of other shit. in some cases i had access to people's ssn, credit history, mother's maiden name, etc. i would have loved you. to fucking pieces. little soggy tear stained pieces.
the reason they pretend not to have your name is so you can't say, "he's dead/in jail/moved" or whatever. if you claim to be mr. x and tell them to take you off a list, they are supposed to do it. if they don't use a name, a random person answering the phone has no standing to have the number removed from the list unless they specify the name and number of the person who should not be called. see what they did there?
the names may be wrong half the time, but i assure you they almost always have the source info, or access to it.