Claudia Rabin-Manning stands outside her Baldwin, N.Y., business, Trump Travel. Rabin-Manning was sued by Donald Trump over the name. She said the name was actually chosen by a previous owner and refers to card playing.

NEW YORK — It’s not easy being Trump these days. Just ask the people at Trump Tobacco in California, Trump Travel in New York, and Trump Memorials in Nebraska.

None of these and dozens of other similarly-named businesses have any connection to a certain presidential candidate known for putting his name on just about everything. But that hasn’t stopped them from getting swept up in the campaign and Trump’s frequent firestorms over immigrants, women, abortion or nuclear war.

Most aggravating, they say, are the questions from the politically curious about whether they are related to their namesake, supporting him or getting any kind of boost or hit from the Trump mystique.

“I chose the name Trump 10 years ago, thinking, he’s a rich guy with a lot of buildings, so maybe I’ll get something out of his name,” says Mohammad Yousefi, owner of Trump Tobacco in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Now he wonders what he was thinking. His strip mall storefront that sells mostly cigarettes and cigars has been struggling lately, a downturn he can’t say for sure has anything to do with the Republican front-runner.

For some, the Trump name was not exactly a blessing before the campaign began. Trump has long been known for vigorously protecting the use of his name, which he licensed for use on other developers’ building projects and to market products including clothing, furniture, vodka and even steaks.

“He sued me over the name about 25 years ago,” says Claudia Rabin-Manning, whose Trump Travel in the Long Island community of Baldwin, N.Y., was initially named by a previous owner for the “trump card” used in games of canasta.

The case was dismissed after Trump’s attorneys demanded she post a disclaimer on the facade of the small storefront: “Not affiliated with Donald J. Trump or The Trump Organization.”

“It was a David-and-Goliath kind of thing,” says Rabin-Manning, a registered independent who is still deciding for whom to vote.

“I’m just a little peon. I’m the mom-and-pop business he supposedly wants to help but it’s certainly not helping my business to have his name.”