text: how are social security numbers assigned? my brother and i were born 17 months apart at the same hospital and the first five digits of our ssn's are the same.  is a sequential group of numbers given to a particular hospital to be assigned in order?  does it have anything to do with the fact that we're siblings?  is it just a coincidence? http://people.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number.htm  funny,...i just read this the other day!!!